More than four out of every five students in Malta aged 15 and 16 say it is "very easy" to obtain alcohol, a report by the EU's drug agency has shown. 

The report also found that more than half of all students younger than 13 had tried alcohol, with boys especially likely to have drunk alcohol before entering their teens (62 per cent). For girls, the figure was 48 per cent. 

Figures for both genders are above the European average. Across the EU, 52 per cent of boys and 43 per cent of girls admitted to having had alcohol before the age of 13. 

Maltese teens were also the most likely across the EU to cite spirits as their alcoholic drink of choice, with 60 per cent doing so. 

Every student born in 1999 was surveyed as part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (Espad), published today by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

The report, published every four years, presents information about students' experiences and perceptions of all drugs, ranging from alcohol to tobacco, illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals and new psychoactive substances (NPS).

Cannabis remains Maltese students' illicit drug of choice, with 13 per cent of students saying they tried the drug at least once.

Three per cent of respondents said they had tried cocaine at least once  - one percentage point higher than the EU average. Eight per cent of Maltese students also admitted to trying out inhalants at least once.

A total of 96,043 students participated in the survey, responding in school to an anonymous questionnaire.