Hardest Working Countries 2023

average hours worked in oecd countries

Hard work is an American ideal, but the United States isn’t technically the hardest working country in the world. In fact, the typical American worker works an average of 38.7 hours per week.

That might seem like a lot, but the United States only ranks as the tenth-highest working hours among developed countries. From workplace laws and government policies to differing cultural attitudes and economic conditions, there’s a lot that goes into how much workers work in each country.

In other words, there’s not always a correlation between a country’s wealth — or even productivity — and how many hours its workers work.

For example, German workers work the least hours of any developed country, but the country still enjoys an above-average per capita GDP. In fact, Germany’s per capita GDP is about five times higher than in Mexico, despite Mexican workers working 58% more hours than their German counterparts.

Let’s take a closer look at the top 10 hardest-working countries in the world as of 2022:

Mexico

Average hours of work annually: 2,127.8 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: 27%

Not only is Mexico the country with the highest average annual work hours per, but it’s also the country where the highest portion of the population average 50+ work hours per week.

Compare that to the OECD average of 10%, and it’s easy to see why Mexico also ranks 3rd-to-last for time spent devoted to leisure and personal care among developed countries.
Costa Rica

Average hours of work annually: 2,073.3 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: 25.6%

Costa Rica works nearly as hard as Mexico. In fact, in 2010, 32.8% of Cota Ricans worked 50 or more hours per week, but that number has been steadily decreasing in recent years.
Chile

Average hours of work annually: 1,915.6 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: 7.7%

Chile’s workers work 50+ hours a week at a rate that’s actually reasonable — around the OECD median rate. However, as a whole, the country still adds up to third-highest average annual work hours among developed countries.
South Korea

Average hours of work annually: 1,915 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: 19.7%

Hard work is as culturally ingrained in Korea as it is in the U.S., and that’s fully evident by the nearly 1 in 5 Korean adults who spend 50 or more hours working each week on average. Plus, South Korea is one of only two countries to not mandate paid sick leave for employees (the other is the U.S).
Malta

Average hours of work annually: 1,882.2 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: N/A

People in Malta work an average of 36.2 hours per week, the fourth-highest in the world
Greece

Average hours of work annually: 1,872.2 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: 4.5%

While Greece has a below-average portion of workers working 50+ hour weeks, their overall working hours are generally high.
Romania

Average hours of work annually: 1,838.4 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: N/A

Romanian workers have seen working hours steadily grow in recent years, with the average worker working an additional 50 hours a year in 2021 compared to 2017.
Croatia

Average hours of work annually: 1,835 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: N/A

Croatia’s average annual working hours have changed very little in recent years, but it’s high enough to rank among the world’s hardest-working countries.
Poland

Average hours of work annually: 1,830.2 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: 4.2%

Poland has the lowest rate of high-hour (50+) workers among coutries on this list, but it still stands out with 1,830.2 average annual work hours.
United States

Average hours of work annually: 1,791 hours

Percentage of population that works 50+ hours per week: 10.4%

While America prizes hard work above all, the United States is only the tenth hardest working country in the world.

Average Annual Work Hours in OECD Countries

Location	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
Mexico	2,127	2,123	2,138	2,149	2,148
Costa Rica	2,073	1,913	2,059	2,121	2,178
Chile	1,915	1,825	1,929	1,955	1,963
Korea	1,915	1,908	1,967	1,993	2,018
Malta	1,882	1,902	2,062	1,972	1,942
Greece	1,872	1,730	1,916	1,961	1,946
Romania	1,838	1,806	1,803	1,787	1,785
Croatia	1,835	1,833	1,837	1,811	1,823
Poland	1,830	1,768	1,782	1,787	1,811
United States	1,791	1,767	1,777	1,781	1,777
Ireland	1,775	1,746	1,771	1,782	1,775
Estonia	1,767	1,637	1,694	1,707	1,768
Czech Republic	1,752	1,703	1,786	1,784	1,776
Israel	1,752	1,782	1,898	1,910	1,918
Cyprus	1,745	1,701	1,809	1,809	1,821
New Zealand	1,730	1,739	1,783	1,759	1,756
OECD – Total	1,715	1,668	1,741	1,752	1,757
Hungary	1,697	1,657	1,722	1,729	1,747
Australia	1,694	1,683	1,722	1,732	1,738
Canada	1,685	1,644	1,690	1,708	1,695
Italy	1,668	1,553	1,710	1,719	1,719
Portugal	1,648	1,611	1,743	1,737	1,727
Spain	1,640	1,569	1,682	1,697	1,692
Lithuania	1,620	1,594	1,665	1,664	1,656
Bulgaria	1,619	1,604	1,645	1,644	1,643
Japan	1,607	1,598	1,643	1,680	1,708
Latvia	1,601	1,576	1,631	1,661	1,649
Slovenia	1,596	1,533	1,601	1,599	1,621
Slovak Republic	1,583	1,572	1,692	1,703	1,713
European Union (27 countries)	1,565	1,511	1,593	1,597	1,599
Switzerland	1,533	1,498	1,549	1,551	1,559
Finland	1,518	1,528	1,538	1,546	1,548
United Kingdom	1,497	1,363	1,537	1,536	1,535
Belgium	1,493	1,443	1,577	1,580	1,578
France	1,490	1,407	1,518	1,514	1,507
Sweden	1,444	1,426	1,453	1,466	1,466
Austria	1,442	1,400	1,508	1,502	1,498
Iceland	1,433	1,446	1,480	1,496	1,507
Norway	1,427	1,410	1,418	1,419	1,419
Netherlands	1,416	1,406	1,438	1,436	1,436
Luxembourg	1,382	1,420	1,507	1,509	1,508
Denmark	1,363	1,342	1,371	1,381	1,404
Germany	1,349	1,324	1,381	1,384	1,389

What Country Has the Hardest Workers?

Mexico has the world’s hardest workers, clocking in at 2,127.8 hours per year on average. That means that the average Mexican worker works for 40.9 hours a week, about 5.7% more than the average worker in the United States.

Additionally, 27% of Mexican workers average 50 or more hours of work per week, which is among the highest rates globally.

References

Hours worked – OECD
Work-Life Balance – OECD

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Author

Matthew Zane

Matthew Zane is the lead editor of Zippia's How To Get A Job Guides. He is a teacher, writer, and world-traveler that wants to help people at every stage of the career life cycle. He completed his masters in American Literature from Trinity College Dublin and BA in English from the University of Connecticut.

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