How Many Hours Do People Work Around the World?

The chart below ranked countries according to their average working hours by sourcing data from OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).

An interesting fact about this ranking is that there is a gap of 864 hours (36 days) between the country with the most working hours and the country with the least working hours.

The country with the most working hours, as of 2023, is Mexico with 2207 hours worked annually per person. The second and third countries with the most working hours are also from the Americas: Costa Rica and Chile with 2171 and 1953 hours worked annually respectively. The reasons why these countries have the most working hours could be due to several factors like economic structure of the country, social policies and lower wages. If the workers are getting low wages, they need to work more to create a comfortable living for them.

Some other countries with the most working hours include Greece, Korea, Canada, Poland and the USA. The countries with the least working hours are from the European Union and have strong economies. All the employees from these countries also get 4 weeks paid holiday every year. These countries include Sweden, Luxembourg, Lithuania, and the Netherlands. Denmark and Germany are at the end of the list, meaning they have the least working hours. Denmark has 1380 annual working hours, whereas, Germany has 1343 annual working hours which makes 168 8 hour workdays in a year.

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