The average working week in Europe varies widely. Countries with particularly high proportions of part-time workers reported shorter average weekly working hours.
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How many hours a week do you work? New data from Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics agency, shows that average working hours across Europe vary widely from country to country.
Work patterns have changed in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of people working from home has increased in the EU. Some companies now offer more flexible options for working remotely.
A four-day work week with the same workload is also being trialled in some countries. In 2022, employed people aged 20 to 64 in the EU worked an average of 36.2 hours per week. That was 24 minutes less than the pre-pandemic figure in 2019.
So which countries have the longest and shortest working hours?
In 2022, average weekly working hours for primary jobs within the EU ranged from 32.4 hours in the Netherlands to 39.7 hours in Greece and Romania. This includes both full-time and part-time workers between the ages of 20 and 64.
People in the Balkans work the longest week
When comparing European countries for which this information is available, Turkey had the longest weekly working hours in 2020, the latest available data, at 42.9 hours.
Turkey was followed by Montenegro (42.8 hours, 2020 data) and Serbia (42.3 hours). These countries have an average working week of more than 40 hours.
Greece and Romania were followed by Poland (39.5 hours), Bulgaria (39.2 hours) and North Macedonia (39 hours).
All this suggests that people in the Balkans have the longest average working hours per week.
Shortest week: Netherlands, Austria, Norway
In the list of countries with the shortest average working week in 2022, the Netherlands (32.4 hours) was followed by Austria (33.7 hours), Norway (34.1 hours), and Denmark and Germany (both 34.6 hours).
How many hours do you work in the UK, France and Spain?
Average working hours in the UK (36.4 hours in 2019) were the same as in the EU. France and Italy (both 36.2 hours) had slightly lower numbers than the EU. People in Spain work 36.5 hours a week, just 6 minutes more than the EU average.
All five Nordic countries had a shorter average working week than the EU average.
Average working hours per week: full-time and part-time
Differences in the average working week between EU countries depend on the type of employment, i.e. full-time or part-time.
Average weekly working hours in full-time employment ranged from 37.4 hours in Finland to 41.3 hours in all EU member states in 2022.
Including European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and EU candidate countries, the average weekly working hours were longest in Turkey (46 hours), followed by Serbia (43.5 hours), Montenegro and Switzerland (both 43.4 hours).
The UK (41 hours, 2019 data) and Germany (39.5 hours) had longer average working hours for full-time workers than the EU (39.3 hours), while Italy (39.2 hours) and Spain (39.1 hours) ), France (38.7 hours) has a lower figure.
Average weekly working hours for part-time employment varied across EU member states in 2022, from 17.8 hours in Portugal to 27 hours in Romania. The EU average was 21.8 hours.
Part-time employees worked 22.8 hours in France, 21.4 hours in Germany and 20.2 hours in the UK. In this category, Turkey had the shortest average working hours per week (17.4 hours).
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Employment type affects average weekly working hours
Differences in legal arrangements and typical working weeks can affect how many hours people work on average per week. More importantly, the different proportions of part-time workers in different countries influence the results. Eurostat research shows that countries with a high proportion of part-time workers report shorter average working weeks relative to the total number of people employed.
The graph above shows a strong negative correlation between these two metrics. In 2022, the proportion of part-time workers in total employment in the Netherlands was 38.4%, the highest in the EU, while the average weekly working hours in relation to total employment was 32.4 hours, the highest in the EU. It was the shortest. EU.
Gender differences in working hours
European countries have large gender differences in average weekly working hours. This includes both full-time and part-time employers from age 20 to age 64.
Among gender differences, the average working week of male workers was longer than that of female workers in all countries in 2022. The largest difference among EU member states was in the Netherlands, with a difference of 8.5 hours.
Switzerland had the widest gap across Europe at 9.7 hours, while Bulgaria had the shortest gap of 0.5 hours. The average gap within the EU was 5.1 hours.
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Average weekly working hours for main jobs for men and women (2022) (Full-time and part-time workers aged 20 to 64)
For men, the countries with the lowest average working hours per week were the Netherlands and Norway (both 36.4 years), and the longest in Turkey with 44.8 hours. The EU average was 38.4 hours, with Greek men working the most hours per week in the EU at 41.7 hours.
For women, the highest average weekly working hours were in Montenegro (41.7 hours). The EU average was 33.6 hours. Dutch women (27.9 hours) had the shortest average weekly working hours in the EU, while Romania (39.3 hours) had the longest.
work more than 49 hours a week
The percentage of employees, including both full-time and part-time workers, who typically work more than 49 hours per week is also a useful indicator. In the EU, 7.4% of employed people will be working long hours in their main job in 2022.
This ranged across EU member states from 0.7% in Bulgaria to 12.6% in Greece.
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Including other European countries, Turkey had the highest rate at 28.1%, followed by the UK and Iceland, where 14.1% of employed people worked more than 49 hours a week.
