A new survey has found that men in Britain are less likely than women to take time off work due to illness.

The survey, by the Office for National Statistics, showed that up to the age of forty men are off work sick for just two percent of their working lives, around half of the rate for women. The survey also showed that people in the north were more likely to be off than those in the south, that public sector employees took more time off than employees in the private sector and that trade unionists had higher absence rates than non-union members.