Irish women who reach age of 80 'likely to live another 9 years'

New statistics show that if an Irish woman reaches the age of 80, she is likely to live an extra nine years.

A man is likely to live another seven years.

The figures from Eurostat show that people in France have the longest life expectancy and can expect to live an extra 11 years if they reach the 80 mark.

Spanish nationals were close behind in the study with an extra 10.4 years.

Ruth Deasy of the EU office in Dublin says the Eurostat figures reveal that women across the European Union are living longer than men.

"Well it shows if you reach 80 years of age you've a very good chance of living several more years, almost nine if you are a woman in Ireland and almost seven if you are a man.

"But if we look at the European figures, about two thirds of the over 80s are women and just one third are men."