As they celebrate International Women's Day today, Maltese women will be pleased to learn that, on average, they are expected to live almost five years longer than men.

According to new data released yesterday by Eurostat, the EU's statistical arm, life expectancy at birth in 2006 for Maltese women stood at 81.9 years and men were expected to live for up to 77 years.

According to Eurostat, life expectancy for both sexes in Malta are higher than the EU average. In fact, in 2006, the EU average life expectancy was 80.9 for women and 74.6 for men.

Eurostat said that in all EU member states, life expectancy was higher for women than for men. The highest life expectancy for women are in Spain and France (both at 84.4 years) and Italy (83.8).

The lowest was in Romania (76.2), Bulgaria and Latvia (both 76.3). Eurostat also gave details on the mean age of women and men in the EU when they first marry. In 2006, the average age of women tying the knot in Malta stood at 26.5 years, lower than the EU average of 28.1 years. Men take longer to commit themselves, normally at 29.

The youngest women getting married for the first time are in Lithuania (25 years), Romania (25.2) and Poland (25.4). On the other hand, the older, maybe more mature, are Swedish women who only get married at an average age of 31.3 years.