The gap in physical health between rich and poor young people is higher in Ireland than in almost every other country in Europe or North America, major international research shows.

Ireland ranked worst of 34 countries for socioeconomic inequalities in the amount of exercise taken by young people, according to the data.

It ranked second worst for body mass index, meaning the difference in size between poor adolescents and their better-off peers is greater in Ireland than almost anywhere else.

When life satisfaction was measured according to socioeconomic background, Ireland ranked third worst, after Greenland and the Netherlands.

The research was led by Prof Frank Elgar of McGill University in Canada. This was the second study and it was based on data collected in 2010 from almost 500,000 11-to 15-year-olds across Europe and North America. The first survey was carried out in 2002.

Gap in physical health between rich and poor

Income-based differences in life satisfaction and physical activity among Irish adolescents grew between 2002 and 2010.

There was better news for Ireland in the area of mental health, with Prof Elgar’s analysis showing young Irish people from poor backgrounds were at little or no disadvantage to their wealthier peers. Ireland ranked as the most equal country after Austria for psychological symptoms and seventh for “somatic symptoms”.

“Ireland is relatively unequal in terms of inequalities in body mass, physical activity and life satisfaction between most and least affluent youths. However, it has moved up the rankings – became more equal – in inequalities in mental and physical health symptoms,” Prof Elgar told The Irish Times.

Overall, the findings, published in The Lancet, reveal that socioeconomic differences across areas of adolescent mental and physical health are increasing.

Young people from the poorest socioeconomic groups are more likely to be in worse health, less physically active, with larger BMI and reporting more physical and psychological symptoms such as irritability or headaches.

Improvements were noted between 2002 and 2010, including increased physical activity and life satisfaction, as well as declines in health such as increased body mass and physical symptoms.

“A strong international focus on reducing child poverty and mortality in children under five years has not been matched by a similar response in older age groups, resulting in widening socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health,” according to Prof Elgar.