Lowest working hours by country 2022 | Statista (2024)

FAQs

What country has the shortest work hours? ›

Globally, the average work week is closer to 40 hours. At one extreme, Bhutan holds the record for the longest work week globally, at 54.4 hours per week, according to the ILO. While at the other, workers in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati enjoy the shortest work week at just 27.2 hours.

In 2017, the Southeast Asian state of Cambodia had the longest average working hours worldwide among 66 countries studied. Here, the working time per worker was around 2,456 hours per year, which is just under 47 hours per week.

According to the OECD, Americans work 1811 hours a year, which is more than Italy (1694), the U.K. (1532), Switzerland(1529), France (1511), Sweden (1440), and Germany (1341). This means that compared to say Switzerland, we Americans work 7 weeks more each year!

4 Day Work Week in Iceland

Iceland is one of the countries most in support of the 4 day work week.

Sweden has made headlines recently for switching to a six-hour workday, rather than the standard eight hours.

There are about 2,080 working hours in a year for an employee who works a traditional 40-hour workweek. The average employee works around 8 hours per weekday, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If you multiply a week's worth of work by the 52 weeks in a year, you get 2,080 hours.

Burma. In the Burmese version of Theravada Buddhism, the week has eight days. Wednesday is divided into Wednesday proper (midnight to noon) and Rahu (noon to midnight). Each day is associated with a compass direction, a planet, and a totem animal.

What is the most hardworking country in the world? ›

New Zealand takes the top spot in Remote's ranking of the best countries in the world for a life-work balance. Kiwis enjoy a generous annual leave allowance and a high minimum wage, while new mothers benefit from 26 weeks of paid maternity leave.

Do Europeans not work hard enough? The statistics seem to confirm this: A working person in the U.S. works 1811 hours per year. In Switzerland, on the other hand, the average is only 1524 hours and in Germany only 1340 hours – even less than France.

While it is true that Americans work longer hours than Japanese workers, and even longer hours than workers in some European countries, there are many other factors that can affect productivity and efficiency besides the number of hours worked.

Our continued implicit beliefs that work is good for us derive not just from our cultural history and our schooling (where learning is turned into work), but also from the continued propaganda deriving ultimately from those who profit most from the work of others.

While some countries in the world are considering a switch to a four-day working week, Greece is swinging in the opposite direction. Its government is implementing a new six-day work schedule which falls under an employment law titled Law 5053/2023.

In the north, both countries have “Days” with no sun light at all for weeks. The same happens at the South Pole but Anartica is not a country ! The shortest day of the year- just 2 hours and 15 odd minutes difference between the Sun rise and the Sun set. It can happen only in ICELAND.