TEENAGE girls in Spain smoke and drink more than any others in the developed world, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Girls of 15 admit to having been 'blind drunk' at least twice in their lives and to smoking regularly at least once a week.
And they are more likely to drink and smoke than boys of the same age, the research found.
Along with Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Italy and Estonia, Spain has one of the highest levels of smoking and drinking teenagers.
The country comes fifth in the 34 OECD countries for numbers of teenagers who smoke, the dubious honour of the highest number being held by Austria, followed closely by Hungary, the Czech Republic and Italy.
Although on the whole, incidences of smoking in young people have dropped considerably in recent years to an OECD average of 16 per cent – less than one in five – in Spain this is as high as 25 per cent among girls.
Spain fares better than the UK for teenage drinkers – Britain has the third-highest levels, after Denmark and Finland in that order, but ahead of Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, with Spain 10th out of the 34 countries.
The average for the OECD nations showed a total of 32 per cent of 15-year-olds, and 28 per cent of girls of this age had been drunk at least once.
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