Data / Rankings / Average weekly hours worked / Countries

Countries by average weekly hours worked

The United Arab Emirates had the highest average weekly hours worked of 95 countries in 2017, at 56.2 hours per week. Malawi had the lowest, at 21.6 hours per week. The median was 39.1 hours per week. Source: International Labour Organization.

Highest56.2United Arab Emirates
Lowest21.6Malawi
Median39.195 countries

Top 40 countries, 2017

United Arab Emirates: 56.2 hours per weekUnited Arab Emirates56.2Myanmar: 48.3 hours per weekMyanmar48.3Jordan: 47.9 hours per weekJordan47.9Liberia: 47.6 hours per weekLiberia47.6Bangladesh: 46.9 hours per weekBangladesh46.9Brunei: 46.6 hours per weekBrunei46.6Iran: 45.9 hours per weekIran45.9Türkiye: 45.5 hours per weekTürkiye45.5Sri Lanka: 44.7 hours per weekSri Lanka44.7Senegal: 44.7 hours per weekSenegal44.7Côte d’Ivoire: 44.5 hours per weekCôte d’Ivoire44.5Samoa: 44.5 hours per weekSamoa44.5Egypt: 44.2 hours per weekEgypt44.2Cambodia: 44.1 hours per weekCambodia44.1Mexico: 43.8 hours per weekMexico43.8Jamaica: 43.5 hours per weekJamaica43.5Colombia: 43.5 hours per weekColombia43.5Costa Rica: 43.2 hours per weekCosta Rica43.2Thailand: 43.2 hours per weekThailand43.2South Korea: 43.1 hours per weekSouth Korea43.1South Africa: 43 hours per weekSouth Africa43Palestine: 42.8 hours per weekPalestine42.8Paraguay: 42.6 hours per weekParaguay42.6Montenegro: 42.4 hours per weekMontenegro42.4Seychelles: 42.4 hours per weekSeychelles42.4El Salvador: 42.2 hours per weekEl Salvador42.2Mali: 42.1 hours per weekMali42.1North Macedonia: 41.9 hours per weekNorth Macedonia41.9Laos: 41.5 hours per weekLaos41.5Philippines: 41.4 hours per weekPhilippines41.4Bosnia and Herzegovina: 41.4 hours per weekBosnia and Herzegovina41.4Serbia: 41.3 hours per weekSerbia41.3Mauritania: 41.1 hours per weekMauritania41.1Nepal: 41 hours per weekNepal41Albania: 40.9 hours per weekAlbania40.9Dominican Republic: 40.8 hours per weekDominican Republic40.8Saint Lucia: 40.7 hours per weekSaint Lucia40.7Greece: 40.6 hours per weekGreece40.6Chile: 40.4 hours per weekChile40.4Vietnam: 40.3 hours per weekVietnam40.3
hours per week. Source: ILOSTAT, Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCountries2017
hours per week		Change on 2016
1United Arab Emirates Series break56.2n/a
2Myanmar Series break48.3n/a
3Jordan Series break47.9n/a
4Liberia Series break47.6+42.2%
5Bangladesh46.9n/a
6Brunei46.6n/a
7Iran45.9+2.6%
8Türkiye45.5-1.1%
9Sri Lanka44.7+1.2%
10Senegal44.7+4.7%
11Côte d’Ivoire44.5-2.1%
12Samoa Series break44.5n/a
13Egypt44.2+1.4%
14Cambodia44.1+2%
15Mexico43.8+0.5%
16Jamaica43.5+0.4%
17Colombia43.5-0.7%
18Costa Rica43.2-1.4%
19Thailand43.2-0.1%
20South Korea43.1-0.6%
21South Africa43-0.6%
22Palestine42.8+1.8%
23Paraguay42.6+0.9%
24Montenegro42.4-0.8%
25Seychelles42.4-3%
26El Salvador42.2-0%
27Mali42.1-2.4%
28North Macedonia41.9+1.6%
29Laos Series break41.5n/a
30Philippines41.4-2%
31Bosnia and Herzegovina41.4-2.2%
32Serbia41.3-0.9%
33Mauritania41.1n/a
34Nepal Series break41n/a
35Albania40.9+3.3%
36Dominican Republic40.8-0.4%
37Saint Lucia Series break40.7n/a
38Greece40.6-0.5%
39Chile Series break40.4-1.1%
40Vietnam40.3-2.3%
41Bulgaria40-0.7%
41Zambia Series break40n/a
43Indonesia39.9-0.3%
44Niger Series break39.7n/a
45Poland39.4-1%
46Russia39.3+0.3%
47Belarus39.3+0.4%
48Mauritius39.1+1.4%
49Honduras39-3%
50Peru38.9+0.5%
51Israel38.9-0.8%
52Romania38.8+0.1%
53Czechia38.8-0.9%
54Croatia38.7+1%
55Venezuela38.7-0.5%
56Brazil38.5-1%
57Ghana Series break38.5n/a
58Armenia38.5+1.6%
58Latvia38.5+0.2%
60Hungary38.4-1%
61Iceland38.4-0.2%
62Slovakia38.3-1%
63Kyrgyzstan38.2+3.4%
64Estonia38.2+0.5%
65Cyprus38.1+0.5%
66United States38-0.1%
67Afghanistan38n/a
68Panama37.9-0.7%
69Portugal37.9+0.1%
70Moldova37.8+1.5%
71Lithuania37.7-1.4%
72Slovenia37.6-2.4%
73Malta37.5-1.2%
74Luxembourg37.3-0.5%
75Ecuador37.2-0.7%
76Spain36.9-0.5%
77Belgium36.7+0.1%
78Italy36.5+0.2%
79New Caledonia36.4n/a
80Switzerland36-0.3%
81France36-0.3%
82Ireland35.8+1.2%
83United Kingdom35.6-0.2%
84Finland35.4-0.8%
84Georgia35.4n/a
86Sweden35.2-0.6%
87Canada35.2-0.6%
88Uganda Series break35.1n/a
89Austria34.9-0.5%
90Germany34.9-0.8%
91Denmark340%
92Norway33.7-0.2%
93Rwanda Series break32.7n/a
94Netherlands31.7-0.1%
95Malawi21.6n/a

Other periods

About this ranking

Average number of hours actually worked per week in the main job by employed people, full-time and part-time together, from labour force and household surveys compiled by the ILO (13th ICLS definitions). Hours actually worked include overtime and exclude paid leave.

Main job only, so people with second jobs work more than shown. Countries with many part-time workers show lower averages. The ILO's modelled estimates are not served. The ILO recalculates national survey data to its international definitions, so values can differ from the figures national offices publish, and it revises past years.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 62 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2017 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT. Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB). https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO (Accessed on 2026-10-12). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

International Labour Organization. (2026). Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB) (Countries by average weekly hours worked, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO

MLA 9

Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB), Countries by average weekly hours worked, 2017. International Labour Organization, 11 Oct. 2026, https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/average-weekly-hours-worked/countries?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

International Labour Organization. 2026. Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB). Countries by average weekly hours worked, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/average-weekly-hours-worked/countries?period=2017.

Harvard

International Labour Organization (2026) Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB), Countries by average weekly hours worked, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/average-weekly-hours-worked/countries?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{international_countries_by_average_weekly_2017,
  author = {{International Labour Organization}},
  title = {{Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF\_HOW\_TEMP\_SEX\_NB): Countries by average weekly hours worked, 2017}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/average-weekly-hours-worked/countries?period=2017. Publisher attribution: International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT. Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF\_HOW\_TEMP\_SEX\_NB). https://data.ilo.org/vis?df\%5Bds\%5D=ds-production\&df\%5Bid\%5D=DF\_HOW\_TEMP\_SEX\_NB\&df\%5Bag\%5D=ILO (Accessed on 2026-10-12). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - International Labour Organization
TI  - Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB): Countries by average weekly hours worked, 2017
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/11
PB  - International Labour Organization
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/average-weekly-hours-worked/countries?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/average-weekly-hours-worked/countries?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT. Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB). https://data.ilo.org/vis?df%5Bds%5D=ds-production&df%5Bid%5D=DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB&df%5Bag%5D=ILO (Accessed on 2026-10-12). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
ER  -
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Questions

Which country has the highest average weekly hours worked?

The United Arab Emirates, with 56.2 hours per week in 2017, according to International Labour Organization.

Which country has the lowest average weekly hours worked?

Malawi, with 21.6 hours per week in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: International Labour Organization, Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person by sex, total, annual (DF_HOW_TEMP_SEX_NB). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 62 countries have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.

Average weekly hours worked: other rankings

Countries: more rankings