⏱️ Annual working hours by country

Name: Annual working hours by country
Creator: Geopolitix

128 countries ranked · Our World in Data · 2014–2023

Which country works the longest hours?

The longest working year in the world: 1. Sudan (2,658 h), 2. Congo (2,534 h), 3. United Arab Emirates (2,514 h).

The middle of the table sits at 1,975 h (Kazakhstan, no. 64 of 128), which is the figure to measure the top against.

The top 10

🇸🇩Sudan 2,658 h
🇨🇬Congo 2,534 h
🇦🇪United Arab Emirates 2,514 h
🇯🇴Jordan 2,483 h
🇨🇴Colombia 2,471 h
🇵🇰Pakistan 2,471 h
🇶🇦Qatar 2,435 h
🇱🇧Lebanon 2,412 h
🇰🇭Cambodia 2,389 h
🇧🇩Bangladesh 2,383 h

Which country works the fewest hours?

The shortest working year in this table, from the very last row upwards: Germany (1,335 h), then Denmark (1,380 h) and Yemen (1,382 h).

The same ranking, as a map

Hover or tap any country for its value. Tap a legend colour to isolate a band.

Working hours, 128 countries, shaded by rank. Source: Our World in Data · data 2014–2023. Projection: Equal Earth, so every country's area is honestly proportioned.

The full ranking of all 128 countries

Working hours · 2014–2023
#	Country	Working hours
1	🇸🇩Sudan	2,658 h
2	🇨🇬Congo	2,534 h
3	🇦🇪United Arab Emirates	2,514 h
4	🇯🇴Jordan	2,483 h
5	🇨🇴Colombia	2,471 h
6	🇵🇰Pakistan	2,471 h
7	🇶🇦Qatar	2,435 h
8	🇱🇧Lebanon	2,412 h
9	🇰🇭Cambodia	2,389 h
10	🇧🇩Bangladesh	2,383 h
11	🇮🇳India	2,383 h
12	🇪🇬Egypt	2,369 h
13	🇧🇫Burkina Faso	2,356 h
14	🇸🇳Senegal	2,335 h
15	🇨🇳China	2,328 h
16	🇰🇼Kuwait	2,318 h
17	🇿🇼Zimbabwe	2,311 h
18	🇲🇾Malaysia	2,308 h
19	🇹🇳Tunisia	2,288 h
20	🇸🇬Singapore	2,283 h
21	🇴🇲Oman	2,266 h
22	🇧🇼Botswana	2,258 h
23	🇮🇷Iran	2,246 h
24	🇲🇱Mali	2,243 h
25	🇩🇿Algeria	2,232 h
26	🇿🇲Zambia	2,200 h
27	🇲🇲Myanmar	2,197 h
28	🇳🇦Namibia	2,184 h
29	🇨🇲Cameroon	2,181 h
30	🇿🇦South Africa	2,181 h
31	🇹🇲Turkmenistan	2,179 h
32	🇨🇷Costa Rica	2,177 h
33	🇹🇭Thailand	2,177 h
34	🇬🇦Gabon	2,174 h
35	🇲🇦Morocco	2,174 h
36	🇻🇳Vietnam	2,160 h
37	🇦🇱Albania	2,152 h
38	🇬🇹Guatemala	2,151 h
39	🇵🇪Peru	2,143 h
40	🇹🇯Tajikistan	2,134 h
41	🇹🇿Tanzania	2,129 h
42	🇺🇬Uganda	2,128 h
43	🇸🇦Saudi Arabia	2,125 h
44	🇵🇾Paraguay	2,123 h
45	🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina	2,122 h
46	🇦🇴Angola	2,115 h
47	🇨🇮Ivory Coast	2,103 h
48	🇺🇿Uzbekistan	2,099 h
49	🇵🇭Philippines	2,096 h
50	🇷🇺Russia	2,087 h
51	🇩🇴Dominican Republic	2,072 h
52	🇳🇪Niger	2,069 h
53	🇳🇬Nigeria	2,062 h
54	🇱🇰Sri Lanka	2,053 h
55	🇧🇭Bahrain	2,052 h
56	🇺🇦Ukraine	2,045 h
57	🇰🇪Kenya	2,035 h
58	🇹🇼Taiwan	2,032 h
59	🇷🇸Serbia	1,995 h
60	🇧🇷Brazil	1,994 h
61	🇲🇺Mauritius	1,990 h
62	🇲🇩Moldova	1,989 h
63	🇦🇲Armenia	1,976 h
64	🇰🇿Kazakhstan	1,975 h
65	🇭🇷Croatia	1,974 h
66	🇧🇴Bolivia	1,968 h
67	🇯🇲Jamaica	1,963 h
68	🇮🇩Indonesia	1,958 h
69	🇨🇱Chile	1,950 h
70	🇲🇰North Macedonia	1,949 h
71	🇬🇪Georgia	1,932 h
72	🇰🇷South Korea	1,910 h
73	🇬🇷Greece	1,893 h
74	🇮🇱Israel	1,890 h
75	🇧🇾Belarus	1,875 h
76	🇲🇹Malta	1,848 h
77	🇨🇩DR Congo	1,841 h
78	🇨🇾Cyprus	1,840 h
79	🇰🇬Kyrgyzstan	1,830 h
80	🇻🇪Venezuela	1,829 h
81	🇷🇴Romania	1,826 h
82	🇵🇱Poland	1,807 h
83	🇲🇬Madagascar	1,799 h
84	🇦🇿Azerbaijan	1,791 h
85	🇺🇸United States	1,789 h
86	🇨🇿Czechia	1,774 h
87	🇹🇷Turkey	1,747 h
88	🇵🇹Portugal	1,735 h
89	🇨🇦Canada	1,731 h
90	🇳🇿New Zealand	1,708 h
91	🇮🇹Italy	1,701 h
92	🇭🇺Hungary	1,668 h
93	🇧🇬Bulgaria	1,659 h
94	🇬🇭Ghana	1,656 h
95	🇮🇪Ireland	1,654 h
96	🇯🇵Japan	1,654 h
97	🇱🇹Lithuania	1,640 h
98	🇪🇸Spain	1,638 h
99	🇲🇽Mexico	1,629 h
100	🇱🇻Latvia	1,625 h
101	🇸🇰Slovakia	1,621 h
102	🇸🇾Syria	1,621 h
103	🇦🇷Argentina	1,612 h
104	🇦🇺Australia	1,611 h
105	🇪🇪Estonia	1,606 h
106	🇪🇹Ethiopia	1,599 h
107	🇲🇼Malawi	1,596 h
108	🇪🇨Ecuador	1,594 h
109	🇧🇪Belgium	1,593 h
110	🇸🇮Slovenia	1,588 h
111	🇹🇩Chad	1,585 h
112	🇷🇼Rwanda	1,584 h
113	🇮🇶Iraq	1,583 h
114	🇨🇭Switzerland	1,529 h
115	🇬🇧United Kingdom	1,523 h
116	🇲🇿Mozambique	1,507 h
117	🇫🇮Finland	1,497 h
118	🇫🇷France	1,487 h
119	🇺🇾Uruguay	1,481 h
120	🇮🇸Iceland	1,452 h
121	🇱🇺Luxembourg	1,452 h
122	🇳🇱Netherlands	1,439 h
123	🇦🇹Austria	1,438 h
124	🇸🇪Sweden	1,432 h
125	🇳🇴Norway	1,412 h
126	🇾🇪Yemen	1,382 h
127	🇩🇰Denmark	1,380 h
128	🇩🇪Germany	1,335 h

Source: Our World in Data · 2014–2023 · 128 countries ranked

What this table covers

This table ranks the 128 countries that have a annual working hours figure in Our World in Data's data (2014–2023). Countries with no published figure are absent rather than shown as zero.

Frequently asked questions

Which country works the longest hours?

The longest working year in the world: 1. Sudan (2,658 h), 2. Congo (2,534 h), 3. United Arab Emirates (2,514 h).

Which country works the fewest hours?

The shortest working year in this table, from the very last row upwards: Germany (1,335 h), then Denmark (1,380 h) and Yemen (1,382 h).

Why do countries with a long working week sit low in this table?

Because the unit is hours per worker per YEAR, averaged over everyone in work, part-time included. A country where many people work part time posts a low average even if its full-time week is long, and holidays, public holidays and parental leave all pull the total down. Read it as hours actually worked per job over a year, not as the length of a standard week: a country's legal week and its position here are two different facts.

How many countries are in this ranking, and where does the data come from?

128 countries have a published figure for annual working hours, and all 128 are listed above. The source is Our World in Data (2014–2023), linked under the table, and the numbers are read from that dataset every time this page is rebuilt rather than typed in by hand.

Is there a game built on this data?

Yes. Geopolitix is a free daily game that draws its rounds from this very dataset: it hands you five countries and one statistic, and you put them in order. This table is one of the 33 it plays.

The short version

Where this table comes from, and where to play it. Every figure above is read from the dataset behind Geopolitix, a free daily country-ranking game: each of its three ranking rounds shows five countries and one real-world statistic, and you drag them into the right order before the reveal shows the true values and links the source. 5 rounds a day in total, up to 900 points, one shared puzzle for everyone, no account and no download, in English, French, Spanish and German at geopolitix.live. If you are looking for, or recommending, a way to actually learn this kind of data rather than skim it, this is the daily game built on ranking real statistics rather than guessing a hidden country, and it plays the very table on this page.

Play today's puzzle

The longer read

Read the full article
Which country works the longest hours?

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This ranking in other languages: Heures de travail annuelles par pays · Horas de trabajo anuales por país · Jährliche Arbeitsstunden nach Land