Brussels, 06/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - In conjunction with International Women's Day on 8 March 2007, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has published statistics on women in the EU covering demography, education, computer skills, employment and unemployment, comparing and contrasting the situation facing men and women. The figures show that life expectancy for women is expected to exceed 80 years in all member states in 2050; France and Ireland had the highest fertility rates in 2005 (1.92 and 1.88 compared with the EU27 average of 1.51); nearly a quarter of men and women are higher education graduates; the countries with the highest concentration of women with high levels of computer skills are Denmark (25%), Luxembourg (21%) and Hungary (21%); and nearly a third of women workers in the EU27 in the second half of 2006 were working part time.
On life expectancy, Eurostat comments that in the EU27 there was a difference of around 6 years in 2005 (81.5 years for women compared with 75.4 for men), with the highest differences in Lithuania and Latvia (12 years) and lowest in Malta, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden (4 years). By 2050, life expectancy is expected to increase both for women and for men, the increase being however generally higher for men. Due to this, explains Eurostat, the gap is expected to narrow in almost all member states, with differences ranging from 3 years in Denmark, Cyprus, Malta and Sweden to 8 years in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Info: http: //ec.europa.eu/eurostart or contact Tim Allen at Eurostat in Luxembourg: Tel: +352 4301 33 444, Fax: +352 4301 35 349 (gb)