An EU study into the long-term impact of completing an Erasmus programme has found that European citizens who do are almost three times as likely to be involved romantically with a partner of a different nationality. 

The study found that there was a definite correlation between going abroad and developing personal relationships. 

The bad news for any Irish people just beginning a year of study somewhere in Europe is that people who complete Erasmus are nearly 50% less likely to be in a relationship than the ones who don't take the leap. Mobile students tend to be single and have fewer social bonds than their peers back at home. 

But the students who do take up the opportunity to spend a year studying abroad are statistically much more likely to develop a long-term relationship with a partner from another country. 

33% of students who completed Erasmus have a partner from abroad, compared to 13% of their peers who did not. 

And the EU statisticians believe that the Erasmus Study Abroad Programme, which was established in 1987, is directly responsible for the birth of one million new baby Europeans in the past 27 years. 

Check out some of the other statistics from the EU's impact study in this infographic.

(Screenshot: Europa.eu)