A new survey of Irish children has found they have healthier lifestyles than those living in many European and North American countries.

But the research also found that the Irish young people polled do not get as good family and peer support as children in many of the other countries surveyed.

Research for the International Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, which was launched in Brussels today, was carried out on behalf of the World Health Organisation in 2013 and 2014.

In Ireland it was conducted by the the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUI Galway and funded by the Department of Health.

In total 220,000 school students across 42 countries participated in the study, with cross-national comparisons broken down for young people aged 11, 13 and 15.

The study found that the percentage of children in Ireland who were bullied at least two or three times a month in the past couple of months was below the average of the 42 countries.

The percentage of children who had bullied others in the same time-frame was also considerably lower in Ireland compared to the other countries surveyed.

The data also show that the older children in Ireland become, the more likely it is that they will have experienced cyberbullying by message two or three times in a month, compared to children in other countries

The research discovered that Irish kids are less likely to watch two or more hours of TV a day compared to peers in the other 42 countries.

The study also revealed that Irish 13- and 15-year-olds are more likely than peers elsewhere to meet the recommendation of at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day.

But it also found that a larger proportion of boys than girls in Ireland meet the exercise requirements.

Kids in Ireland eat more fruit than children elsewhere, ranking in the top 12 of the 42 countries surveyed.

The study also found that drinking behaviour and tobacco use among children are improving in Ireland when compared to other countries.

However, it also discovered that when it comes to levels of life satisfaction, 15-year-olds in Ireland rank within the bottom ten countries surveyed.

The Irish study also found that Ireland came in the bottom four of the countries polled when it came to children reporting high family support.

The research discovered that Irish 13- and 15-year-olds sit within the bottom third of countries reporting high peer support.