Maps

Mapped: Countries With the Longest Work Weeks

Published

1 month ago

December 12, 2024

Kayla Zhu

Graphics/Design:

Sabrina Lam

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

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Countries With the Longest Work Weeks

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On average, workers around the world clock in 43.9 hours a week, according to data from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

However, there are significant regional disparities in average working hours, reflecting variations in cultural norms, economic structures, and labor policies.

This map visualizes the average weekly number of hours worked per employee by country. The top and bottom five countries by average work weeks are highlighted at the bottom.

Data includes 108 out of the 187 ILO member states. The ILO defines employees as those who work for wages under employers, which does not include self-employment.

The latest annual data was used for each country, ranging from 2021 to 2023.

Which Countries Have The Longest Work Weeks?

Below, we show the average weekly number of hours worked per employee by country according to the ILO.

Country	ILO Region	Average weekly hours worked per employee
🇮🇳 India	Asia and the Pacific	56
🇧🇹 Bhutan	Asia and the Pacific	53.3
🇧🇩 Bangladesh	Asia and the Pacific	50.4
🇺🇬 Uganda	Africa	50.3
🇰🇭 Cambodia	Asia and the Pacific	49.5
🇵🇰 Pakistan	Asia and the Pacific	49.2
🇸🇩 Sudan	Africa	49
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	Arab States	48.7
🇯🇴 Jordan	Arab States	48.4
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	Africa	48.1
🇿🇲 Zambia	Africa	47.4
🇦🇴 Angola	Africa	46.8
🇨🇴 Colombia	Americas	46.6
🇸🇿 Eswatini	Africa	46
🇧🇳 Brunei	Asia and the Pacific	46
🇪🇬 Egypt	Africa	46
🇰🇪 Kenya	Africa	45.8
🇲🇳 Mongolia	Asia and the Pacific	45.4
🇬🇹 Guatemala	Americas	45.3
🇻🇳 Viet Nam	Asia and the Pacific	45.3
🇲🇽 Mexico	Americas	45.2
🇧🇼 Botswana	Africa	45.2
🇼🇸 Samoa	Asia and the Pacific	45.1
🇭🇳 Honduras	Americas	44.9
🇸🇻 El Salvador	Americas	44.8
🇵🇪 Peru	Americas	44.7
🇹🇷 Türkiye	Europe and Central Asia	44.6
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	Asia and the Pacific	44.5
🇨🇷 Costa Rica	Americas	44.5
🇹🇭 Thailand	Asia and the Pacific	44.3
🇮🇷 Iran	Asia and the Pacific	44.2
🇬🇲 Gambia	Africa	44.1
🇲🇪 Montenegro	Europe and Central Asia	44.1
🇱🇦 Laos	Asia and the Pacific	43.8
🇪🇹 Ethiopia	Africa	43.7
🇦🇱 Albania	Europe and Central Asia	43.7
🇵🇾 Paraguay	Americas	43.4
🇽🇰 Kosovo	Europe and Central Asia	42.9
🇯🇲 Jamaica	Americas	42.8
🇿🇦 South Africa	Africa	42.4
🇵🇭 Philippines	Asia and the Pacific	42.1
🇮🇩 Indonesia	Asia and the Pacific	41.9
🇦🇫 Afghanistan	Asia and the Pacific	41.9
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic	Americas	41.8
🇨🇱 Chile	Americas	41.7
🇵🇦 Panama	Americas	41.5
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe and Central Asia	41.4
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	Europe and Central Asia	41.3
🇷🇸 Serbia	Europe and Central Asia	41.1
🇵🇸 Occupied Palestinian Territory	Arab States	41
🇲🇭 Marshall Islands	Asia and the Pacific	40.9
🇬🇭 Ghana	Africa	40.6
🇰🇲 Comoros	Africa	40.4
🇱🇨 Saint Lucia	Americas	40.4
🇸🇨 Seychelles	Africa	40.3
🇷🇴 Romania	Europe and Central Asia	39.8
🇲🇩 Moldova	Europe and Central Asia	39.7
🇧🇴 Bolivia	Americas	39.6
🇷🇺 Russia	Europe and Central Asia	39.6
🇧🇷 Brazil	Americas	39.3
🇧🇾 Belarus	Europe and Central Asia	39.2
🇲🇰 North Macedonia	Europe and Central Asia	39.2
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	Europe and Central Asia	39.1
🇹🇴 Tonga	Asia and the Pacific	38.9
🇮🇱 Israel	Europe and Central Asia	38.7
🇨🇾 Cyprus	Europe and Central Asia	38.6
🇵🇱 Poland	Europe and Central Asia	38.5
🇱🇻 Latvia	Europe and Central Asia	38.5
🇰🇷 South Korea	Asia and the Pacific	38.3
🇳🇷 Nauru	Asia and the Pacific	38.2
🇭🇺 Hungary	Europe and Central Asia	38.2
🇱🇹 Lithuania	Europe and Central Asia	38.1
🇬🇷 Greece	Europe and Central Asia	38
🇺🇸 United States of America	Americas	38
🇸🇮 Slovenia	Europe and Central Asia	37.8
🇭🇷 Croatia	Europe and Central Asia	37.7
🇨🇿 Czechia	Europe and Central Asia	37.4
🇺🇾 Uruguay	Americas	37.4
🇸🇰 Slovakia	Europe and Central Asia	37.1
🇦🇷 Argentina	Americas	37.1
🇹🇻 Tuvalu	Asia and the Pacific	37
🇵🇹 Portugal	Europe and Central Asia	37
🇲🇬 Madagascar	Africa	36.6
🇹🇱 Timor-Leste	Asia and the Pacific	36.5
🇪🇪 Estonia	Europe and Central Asia	36.4
🇨🇰 Cook Islands	Asia and the Pacific	36.3
🇲🇹 Malta	Europe and Central Asia	36.3
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	Europe and Central Asia	35.5
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Europe and Central Asia	35.5
🇨🇦 Canada	Americas	35.2
🇲🇺 Mauritius	Africa	35.2
🇪🇸 Spain	Europe and Central Asia	35.2
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Europe and Central Asia	35.1
🇮🇹 Italy	Europe and Central Asia	34.8
🇫🇷 France	Europe and Central Asia	34.7
🇸🇪 Sweden	Europe and Central Asia	34.6
🇮🇸 Iceland	Europe and Central Asia	34.6
🇮🇪 Ireland	Europe and Central Asia	34.4
🇳🇺 Niue	Asia and the Pacific	34.3
🇧🇪 Belgium	Europe and Central Asia	33.8
🇫🇮 Finland	Europe and Central Asia	33.5
🇩🇪 Germany	Europe and Central Asia	33.5
🇳🇴 Norway	Europe and Central Asia	33
🇩🇰 Denmark	Europe and Central Asia	32.6
🇦🇹 Austria	Europe and Central Asia	32.4
🇮🇶 Iraq	Arab States	31.6
🇷🇼 Rwanda	Africa	29.9
🇳🇱 Netherlands	Europe and Central Asia	29.8

Working more than 48 hours per week is considered excessive by ILO standards due to its negative impacts on health, safety, productivity, and work-life balance.

The top 10 countries all recorded average work weeks over 48 hours, with India at the highest at 56 hours a week.

India’s corporate work culture has often been criticized for its long hours and high stress, with some describing it as “toxic.”

Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, one of India’s largest tech companies, previously stated that young people should work 70 hours a week to help boost the country’s economy.

In September 2024, a 26-year-old accountant at Ernst & Young in India reportedly died due to the strain of a “backbreaking” workload as a new employee, which sparked a national investigation into workplace conditions and renewed debate about toxic work culture in India’s corporate sector.

Four of the five countries with the longest work weeks are in the Asia–Pacific region: India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Cambodia. On the other hand, European countries tend to have shorter work weeks, with workers in the Netherlands averaging around 29.8 hours a week.