Sometimes we may feel at the end of a hard day’s work that we work longer hours than anyone on the planet; however, there are plenty of societies across the globe where long hours are not only the norm, but are expected.
Which nationalities work the longest hours – and which the shortest?
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Mexico ranks a number one among most of the other 37 countries for which is has statistics. The hardest working country of all? Indeed, the average citizen of the Central American country works 2,246 hours a year, or 43.2 hours a week.
In second place is Costa Rica, often describes as the world’s happiest country; South Korea, Greece and Chile complete the top five.
At the other end of the table is Germany, a nation stereotypically associated with efficiency. The average German works just 1,371 hours a year – or 26.4 hours a week. Also enjoying plenty of downtime are citizens of The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and France.
Which nationalities work the longest hours?
- Mexico – 2,246 hours per year
- Costa Rica – 2,230
- South Korea – 2,113
- Greece – 2,042
- Chile – 1,988
- Russia – 1,978
- Poland – 1,963
- Latvia – 1,903
- Iceland – 1,880
- Portugal – 1,868
- Lithuania – 1,860
- Israel – 1,858
- Estonia – 1,852
- Turkey – 1,832
- Ireland – 1,820
- United States – 1,790
- Czech Republic – 1,779
- New Zealand – 1,757
- Slovakia – 1,754
- Hungary – 1,749
- Italy – 1,725
- Japan – 1,719
- Canada – 1,706
- Spain – 1,691
- Slovenia – 1,676
- United Kingdom – 1,674
- Australia – 1,665
- Finland – 1,646
- Austria – 1,625
- Sweden – 1,612
- Switzerland – 1,590
- Belgium – 1,541
- Luxembourg – 1,507
- France – 1,482
- Denmark – 1,457
- Norway – 1,424
- Netherlands – 1,419
- Germany – 1,371
Overall, average working hours have fallen in every country for which the OECD has data. Bigger decreases have been seen in other countries, such as Hungary. Its residents worked 2,033 hours a year in 2000; in 2015 that figure fell to 1,749.
source:telegraph