WFA Research
How working hours compare across 183 countries, and why country rankings can change depending on the official dataset used.
Updated September 2, 2026
WFA Digital compiled the latest available working hours data from ILOSTAT for 183 countries and territories, and compared the overlapping countries against OECD and Eurostat figures.
The comparison shows that country rankings can change substantially depending on the metric and dataset used. Among the 39 countries with comparable OECD and ILO data, 8 move at least ten ranking positions. The full country table, the source data and the methodology are all below.
The table below uses the latest available ILOSTAT estimate for each country. Data years vary, because not every country reports working hours in the same year.
| Country or territory | Average weekly hours | Data year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bhutan | 54.4 | 2022 | LFS |
| Sudan | 50.7 | 2022 | LFS |
| United Arab Emirates | 50.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Lesotho | 49.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Congo | 48.6 | 2009 | LFS |
| Senegal | 48.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Jordan | 48.1 | 2024 | LFS |
| Qatar | 48 | 2020 | LFS |
| Liberia | 47.6 | 2017 | LFS |
| Mauritania | 47.6 | 2019 | HIES |
| Lebanon | 47.6 | 2019 | LFS |
| Mongolia | 46.9 | 2025 | LFS |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | 46.8 | 2024 | LFS |
| Pakistan | 46.8 | 2025 | LFS |
| Bangladesh | 46.7 | 2024 | LFS |
| Maldives | 46.5 | 2019 | HIES |
| Gabon | 46.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Burkina Faso | 46.3 | 2014 | HIES |
| Brunei Darussalam | 46.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Zimbabwe | 46.2 | 2024 | LFS |
| China | 46.1 | 2016 | OE |
| Macau, China | 46 | 2016 | LFS |
| Guyana | 45.8 | 2024 | LFS |
| India | 45.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Cape Verde | 45.3 | 2009 | LFS |
| Equatorial Guinea | 45.1 | 2023 | HIES |
| Egypt | 45.1 | 2024 | LFS |
| Namibia | 44.9 | 2018 | LFS |
| Malaysia | 44.7 | 2022 | LFS |
| Myanmar | 44.6 | 2020 | LFS |
| Djibouti | 44.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Uganda | 44.4 | 2021 | LFS |
| Morocco | 44 | 2022 | LFS |
| Honduras | 43.7 | 2025 | HS |
| Algeria | 43.7 | 2017 | LFS |
| Jamaica | 43.6 | 2023 | LFS |
| Gambia | 43.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Angola | 43.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Tunisia | 43.3 | 2021 | HIES |
| Sri Lanka | 43 | 2024 | LFS |
| Hong Kong, China | 43 | 2016 | LFS |
| Guinea-Bissau | 43 | 2018 | LFS |
| Botswana | 42.9 | 2024 | HS |
| Zambia | 42.9 | 2024 | LFS |
| Costa Rica | 42.9 | 2025 | LFS |
| Guatemala | 42.9 | 2025 | LFS |
| Montenegro | 42.9 | 2024 | LFS |
| Colombia | 42.8 | 2025 | LFS |
| Eswatini | 42.7 | 2023 | LFS |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 42.6 | 2019 | LFS |
| Singapore | 42.6 | 2020 | LFS |
| Grenada | 42.4 | 2023 | LFS |
| Thailand | 42.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| El Salvador | 42.4 | 2025 | HS |
| South Africa | 42.4 | 2024 | LFS |
| Mali | 42.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Kosovo | 42.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Falkland Islands, Malvinas | 42.2 | 2016 | PC |
| Mexico | 42.1 | 2025 | LFS |
| Türkiye | 42.1 | 2025 | LFS |
| Cayman Islands | 42 | 2015 | LFS |
| Haiti | 41.9 | 2012 | HIES |
| Palestine, State of | 41.9 | 2025 | LFS |
| Viet Nam | 41.9 | 2024 | LFS |
| Bermuda | 41.8 | 2010 | PC |
| Paraguay | 41.8 | 2025 | HS |
| Benin | 41.5 | 2011 | HIES |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | 41.5 | 2022 | LFS |
| Yemen | 41.5 | 2014 | LFS |
| Albania | 41.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Sierra Leone | 41.1 | 2018 | HS |
| Nepal | 41 | 2017 | LFS |
| Cuba | 41 | 2010 | LFS |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 40.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Tanzania, United Republic of | 40.7 | 2024 | LFS |
| Seychelles | 40.6 | 2025 | LFS |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 40.6 | 2018 | LFS |
| Dominican Republic | 40.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| Serbia | 40.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| Tajikistan | 40.3 | 2016 | LFS |
| Burundi | 40.3 | 2014 | HIES |
| Georgia | 40 | 2025 | LFS |
| Jersey | 40 | 2016 | HS |
| Philippines | 40 | 2023 | LFS |
| Palau | 39.9 | 2020 | PC |
| Samoa | 39.8 | 2022 | LFS |
| Saint Lucia | 39.8 | 2025 | LFS |
| Niger | 39.7 | 2017 | LFS |
| Peru | 39.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Afghanistan | 39.6 | 2021 | LFS |
| Greece | 39.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Cambodia | 39.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Aruba | 39.4 | 2010 | PC |
| Republic of Moldova | 39.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| North Macedonia | 39.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| Bahamas | 39.2 | 2023 | LFS |
| Belarus | 39.1 | 2024 | LFS |
| Kenya | 39 | 2021 | HS |
| Belize | 39 | 2020 | LFS |
| Ukraine | 39 | 2020 | LFS |
| Montserrat | 39 | 2020 | LFS |
| Russian Federation | 39 | 2025 | LFS |
| Chile | 38.9 | 2025 | LFS |
| Poland | 38.9 | 2025 | LFS |
| Brazil | 38.9 | 2025 | HS |
| Armenia | 38.8 | 2018 | HIES |
| Bulgaria | 38.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Lithuania | 38.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Kyrgyzstan | 38.7 | 2023 | LFS |
| Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of | 38.6 | 2017 | LFS |
| Republic of Korea | 38.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Indonesia | 38.4 | 2023 | LFS |
| Mauritius | 38.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Slovenia | 38.3 | 2025 | LFS |
| Romania | 38.3 | 2025 | LFS |
| Latvia | 38.1 | 2025 | LFS |
| Kazakhstan | 38 | 2022 | LFS |
| Marshall Islands | 37.9 | 2021 | PC |
| Comoros | 37.8 | 2021 | LFS |
| Israel | 37.7 | 2024 | LFS |
| Malta | 37.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Portugal | 37.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Cyprus | 37.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Croatia | 37.6 | 2025 | LFS |
| Slovakia | 37.6 | 2025 | LFS |
| United States of America | 37.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Czechia | 37.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| Fiji | 37.3 | 2024 | LFS |
| Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 37.3 | 2025 | LFS |
| Hungary | 37.3 | 2025 | LFS |
| Mozambique | 37.2 | 2022 | HIES |
| New Caledonia | 37.2 | 2020 | LFS |
| Tuvalu | 36.8 | 2022 | PC |
| Curaçao | 36.6 | 2018 | LFS |
| Japan | 36.6 | 2020 | LFS |
| Argentina | 36.6 | 2025 | LFS |
| Nicaragua | 36.5 | 2012 | LFS |
| Spain | 36.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| Panama | 36.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| Estonia | 36.2 | 2025 | LFS |
| Uruguay | 36.1 | 2025 | LFS |
| Italy | 36.1 | 2025 | LFS |
| Puerto Rico | 35.8 | 2020 | PC |
| Iceland | 35.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| France | 35.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Luxembourg | 35.6 | 2025 | LFS |
| Ghana | 35.5 | 2024 | HIES |
| Switzerland | 35.2 | 2025 | LFS |
| Madagascar | 35 | 2022 | HS |
| Isle of Man | 35 | 2013 | ES |
| Timor-Leste | 34.9 | 2021 | LFS |
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 34.9 | 2025 | LFS |
| Canada | 34.8 | 2025 | LFS |
| Sweden | 34.8 | 2025 | LFS |
| Ireland | 34.7 | 2025 | LFS |
| Solomon Islands | 34.6 | 2013 | HIES |
| Cook Islands | 34.5 | 2023 | LFS |
| Naoero | 34.4 | 2024 | HIES |
| Azerbaijan | 34.4 | 2022 | LFS |
| Belgium | 34.3 | 2025 | LFS |
| Finland | 34.1 | 2025 | LFS |
| Ecuador | 34.1 | 2025 | LFS |
| Somalia | 33.9 | 2022 | HIES |
| Niue | 33.6 | 2022 | PC |
| Congo, Democratic Republic of the | 33.5 | 2016 | HS |
| Germany | 33.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Nigeria | 33.5 | 2024 | HS |
| Austria | 33.5 | 2025 | LFS |
| Norway | 33.4 | 2025 | LFS |
| Denmark | 33.2 | 2025 | LFS |
| Réunion | 33 | 2012 | LFS |
| New Zealand | 33 | 2020 | LFS |
| Australia | 32.3 | 2020 | LFS |
| Ethiopia | 31.9 | 2021 | LFS |
| Tonga | 31.8 | 2023 | LFS |
| Wallis and Futuna | 31.8 | 2019 | HIES |
| Iraq | 31.7 | 2021 | LFS |
| Netherlands | 31 | 2025 | LFS |
| Micronesia, Federated States of | 30.4 | 2014 | HIES |
| Rwanda | 29.2 | 2025 | LFS |
| Malawi | 28 | 2024 | LFS |
| Kiribati | 27.7 | 2023 | HIES |
| Vanuatu | 24.4 | 2025 | LFS |
Source codes: LFS labour force survey · HS household survey · HIES household income and expenditure survey · PC population census · ES establishment survey · OE official estimate. The table is sortable and searchable.
To make recent cross-country comparisons easier, this view includes only the 99 countries whose latest available ILOSTAT observation is from 2024 or 2025. The full table above covers all 183 and can be narrowed the same way with the year buttons.
99 of 183 countries have an observation this recent. Countries absent from this chart are not necessarily working fewer hours; their most recent published figure is simply older.
OECD, ILOSTAT and Eurostat do not measure working hours in exactly the same way. They can differ in population coverage, in whether hours are counted annually or weekly, in the treatment of part-time and self-employed workers, in how employment itself is defined, and in survey methodology.
This means the datasets are individually useful and internally consistent, but their country rankings should not automatically be treated as interchangeable.
International Labour Organization (ILOSTAT)
Average working hours are higher in Mexico than in Germany in both datasets. The size of the gap, however, depends on which measure is used.
OECD figures are annual hours per worker; ILOSTAT figures are weekly hours per employed person. All four figures are from 2025.
Using OECD annual hours, Mexico's average is 66% higher than Germany's (2,205 against 1,332 hours a year). Using ILOSTAT weekly hours, it is 26% higher (42.1 against 33.5 hours a week).
Neither result is wrong. The two series measure working time differently, and each is coherent on its own terms. The difficulty begins when a value from one source is converted, or compared, as though it represented the same statistical concept as the other.
It is tempting to reconcile the two by dividing annual hours by weekly hours, which should give the number of weeks worked in a year. Doing so across these 39 countries produces figures ranging from 39.7 to 57.
A calendar year holds 52 weeks. The spread comes from the calculation itself, not from a fault in either source.
Peru comes out at 57 implied weeks and Germany at 39.7. Neither figure describes working patterns in those countries.
This demonstrates that the two series cannot be directly converted using this calculation. The reason is that they are not necessarily equivalent in population coverage, in how employment is defined, in which hours are counted, or in whether time is measured over a week or a year.
Each series remains valid on its own terms. What the arithmetic rules out is treating a figure from one as if it were expressed in the units of the other.
The three sources broadly place the same countries near the top. How closely they agree can be measured, and the measure is a rank correlation: a value closer to 1 means the datasets place countries in a more similar order, and 1.0 would mean identical ordering.
A high correlation does not mean the numerical values are interchangeable. It only says the ordering is similar.
The two OECD comparisons are computed on the same 30 countries, so they can be read against each other.
The two weekly-hours series land close together, differing by a median of 0.34 hours per country. The annual series sits further from both, by a similar margin in each case.
This pattern is consistent with differences in measurement concepts, particularly annual versus weekly hours. It does not by itself establish the cause.
One qualification: Eurostat and ILOSTAT are not independent of each other. ILOSTAT sources its European figures from the EU Labour Force Survey, which is Eurostat's own collection, so their agreement confirms consistent reproduction rather than providing a second opinion.
Both columns rank the same 39 countries from most hours to fewest, using data from 2023 or later in both sources.
Rank by OECD annual hours Rank by ILOSTAT weekly hours
Position out of 39; a lower number means more hours.
| Country | Rank by OECD | Rank by ILOSTAT | Positions moved | OECD hours/year | ILOSTAT hours/week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slovenia | 26 | 11 | 15 | 1,599 (2025) | 38.3 (2025) |
| Latvia | 27 | 13 | 14 | 1,588 (2025) | 38.1 (2025) |
| Croatia | 5 | 18 | 13 | 1,946 (2025) | 37.6 (2025) |
| Bulgaria | 21 | 8 | 13 | 1,641 (2025) | 38.7 (2025) |
| Canada | 18 | 30 | 12 | 1,687 (2025) | 34.8 (2025) |
| Lithuania | 19 | 9 | 10 | 1,673 (2025) | 38.7 (2025) |
| Ireland | 22 | 32 | 10 | 1,639 (2025) | 34.7 (2025) |
| Iceland | 36 | 26 | 10 | 1,421 (2025) | 35.7 (2025) |
| Cyprus | 9 | 17 | 8 | 1,851 (2025) | 37.7 (2025) |
| Czechia | 13 | 21 | 8 | 1,824 (2025) | 37.4 (2025) |
DSD_HW@DF_AVG_ANN_HRS_WKD, series filtered to worker status Total (all workers, not employees only, since excluding the self-employed changes the figure materially). Indicator page.HOW_TEMP_SEX_ECO_NB_A, filtered to both sexes, all economic activities, national level. Topic page.lfsa_ewhan2, age Y_GE15, both sexes, all activities. Data browser.All three were pulled from the publishers' own data APIs on September 2, 2026. No aggregator, no secondary reporting, and no estimate of our own enters any figure on this page.
For each country the most recent observation in each source is used. Figures are frozen at the pull date shown rather than fetched live, so a number cited from this page still resolves later.
A country is compared only where both sources publish a figure for 2023 or later. An earlier pass of this analysis reported New Zealand and Australia as the largest movers; their ILOSTAT figures were from 2020 and their OECD figures from 2025, so the gap was a difference of reference year rather than of measurement. Excluded under that rule: Australia (ILOSTAT 2020), Japan (ILOSTAT 2020), New Zealand (ILOSTAT 2020). Removing those pairs raised the correlation, so the differences reported here are not an artefact of stale data.
The Eurostat series is filtered to people aged 15 and over, both sexes, all activities, because that matches ILOSTAT's concept of hours per employed person. A working-age-only filter (15 to 64) sits marginally closer to the ILOSTAT figures and was deliberately not used: the cut was fixed on what the indicators mean, before any comparison was run.
Where a source carries a period with no published figure, the row is dropped rather than read as zero. The OECD extract contains one such placeholder; treating it as a value put a country's annual hours at zero and moved the headline correlation by 0.14. Weekly hours are shown to one decimal place as published; annual hours are rounded to the nearest hour.
Spearman rank correlation, computed on the ranks rather than the values, because the question is whether the sources order countries similarly and the two series are not on the same scale. Each pairwise correlation reported in the alignment section is computed on the same set of countries, so the three figures are comparable with one another.
The extraction and comparison run from two committed scripts, server/research/sources/fetch-sources.sh and scripts/build-working-hours.mts, and write a dated snapshot that this page reads. Re-running them against the same endpoints reproduces every figure here.
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