Mapped: How Many Hours Europeans Work Each Week
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There’s an old joke: are you working hard, or hardly working? “Hard work” is difficult to measure, but it is possible to know who’s working the longest.
This heatmap visualizes the average hours Europeans work each week by country, as sourced from Eurostat’s Labor Force Survey (2023). The dataset covers employed persons aged 20–64 in a “main occupation” and includes full and part time work.
The Balkans Work the Longest in Europe
Less wealthy countries of Europe (by per capita GDP) tend to have longer work weeks. For example, people in the Balkans—including Türkiye, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Greece, and Romania—all put in an average of 40+ hours a week at their main jobs.
RankCountryAverage Weekly
Hours Worked (2023)
1 Türkiye44
2 Serbia42
3 Bosnia & Herzegovina41
4 Greece40
5 Romania40
6 Poland39
7 Bulgaria39
8 Cyprus39
9 Latvia38
10 Lithuania38
11 Croatia38
12 Slovenia38
13 Czechia38
14 Hungary38
15 Portugal38
16 Slovakia38
17 Malta37
18 Estonia36
19 Spain36
20 Iceland36
21 Switzerland36
22 Italy36
23 France36
24 Sweden36
25 Ireland36
26 Luxembourg35
27 Belgium35
28 Finland35
29 Denmark34
30 Germany34
31 Norway34
32 Austria34
33 Netherlands32
N/A EU (2020)36
Note: Figures rounded.
In contrast, those in the Netherlands work 32 hours per week on average. This disparity between Eastern and Western Europe is not new. Data from 2008 reflects largely the same trends.
Another find in the Labor Force Survey is how weekly working hours differ by occupation. Those in agriculture, forestry, and fishery have the longest workweeks (44 hours).
RankOccupationAverage Weekly Hours Worked (2023)
1 Agricultural, forestry & fishery44
2 Managers42
3 Armed forces40
4 Trades38
5 Plant and machinery operators38
6 Technicians35
7 Professionals35
8 Service and sales34
9 Clerical support33
10 Elementary occupations31
Note: Figures rounded. Occupational average work hours accessible when customizing filters in source dataset.
When cross-referencing both datasets, some correlations emerge. For example, in Türkiye and Serbia, the two longest-working nations in Europe, nearly 20% of the workforce is employed in agriculture.
Similarly, in Bosnia (3rd) and Romania (5th) nearly one-third of the workforce is in agriculture.
Meanwhile, Greece’s average hours are about to go up: the government has introduced a six-day workweek for certain industries, in a bid to boost productivity.
The post Mapped: How Many Hours Europeans Work Each Week appeared first on Visual Capitalist.