{"version":1,"asset_type":"statistical_series","data_type":"time_series","slug":"europe-long-working-hours-by-country","url":"https://apiardata.com/statistics/europe-long-working-hours-by-country","html_url":"https://apiardata.com/statistics/europe-long-working-hours-by-country/","title":"Long Working Hours in Europe by Country (2025)","description":"Share of employed people usually working 49 hours or more a week across 29 European countries in 2025: 11.8% in Greece at the top, 0.3% in Bulgaria at the bottom. Eurostat labour force survey.","domain":"labor","category":"Labour & Employment","keywords":["Labour & Employment","Working Hours","Work-Life Balance","Europe","Eurostat"],"publisher":"Eurostat","frequency":"Annual","temporal_coverage":"2018/2025","unit":"% of employed","last_updated":"2026-07-25","last_updated_text":"25 July 2026","data_as_of":"2025","variable_measured":"Employed persons usually working 49 hours or more per week, share of total employment","license":"https://apiardata.com/data-license","is_accessible_for_free":true,"sources":[{"name":"Eurostat","url":"https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/LFSA_QOE_3A2/default/table"}],"meta":[{"label":"Frequency","value":"Annual"},{"label":"Reference year","value":"2025"},{"label":"Coverage","value":"2018–2025"},{"label":"Countries","value":"29"},{"label":"Last updated","value":"25 July 2026"}],"kpis":[{"label":"Average of the panel (2025)","value":"5.5","unit":"percent of employed","trend":{"direction":"down","value":"-0.2pp vs 2024"}},{"label":"Highest","value":"11.8","unit":"Greece"},{"label":"Lowest","value":"0.3","unit":"Bulgaria"},{"label":"Countries ranked","value":"29","unit":"with a published figure"}],"series":[{"key":"value","label":"Average share working 49 hours or more a week"}],"observation_count":8,"observations":[{"period":"2018","value":7.1},{"period":"2019","value":6.9},{"period":"2020","value":6.3},{"period":"2021","value":6.5},{"period":"2022","value":6.3},{"period":"2023","value":5.9},{"period":"2024","value":5.7},{"period":"2025","value":5.5}],"table":{"columns":[{"key":"rank","label":"#"},{"key":"country","label":"Country"},{"key":"value","label":"% of employed"},{"key":"yoyChange","label":"Change vs 2024"}],"rows":[{"rank":"1","country":"Greece","value":"11.8","yoyChange":"-0.9pp"},{"rank":"2","country":"France","value":"9.4","yoyChange":"-0.3pp"},{"rank":"3","country":"Cyprus","value":"9.1","yoyChange":"-0.9pp"},{"rank":"4","country":"Portugal","value":"9.0","yoyChange":"-0.2pp"},{"rank":"5","country":"Belgium","value":"8.5","yoyChange":"+0.2pp"},{"rank":"6","country":"Ireland","value":"7.8","yoyChange":"+0.1pp"},{"rank":"7","country":"Austria","value":"7.7","yoyChange":"unchanged"},{"rank":"8","country":"Italy","value":"7.0","yoyChange":"-0.8pp"},{"rank":"9","country":"Switzerland","value":"6.7","yoyChange":"-0.2pp"},{"rank":"10","country":"Poland","value":"6.6","yoyChange":"-0.4pp"},{"rank":"11","country":"Czechia","value":"6.5","yoyChange":"-0.4pp"},{"rank":"12","country":"Sweden","value":"6.3","yoyChange":"-0.4pp"},{"rank":"13","country":"Slovakia","value":"6.2","yoyChange":"+0.2pp"},{"rank":"14","country":"Spain","value":"6.0","yoyChange":"-0.4pp"},{"rank":"15","country":"Luxembourg","value":"5.9","yoyChange":"-0.4pp"},{"rank":"16","country":"Malta","value":"5.6","yoyChange":"+0.7pp"},{"rank":"17","country":"Finland","value":"5.2","yoyChange":"unchanged"},{"rank":"18","country":"Norway","value":"5.0","yoyChange":"+0.1pp"},{"rank":"19","country":"Germany","value":"4.9","yoyChange":"-0.2pp"},{"rank":"20","country":"Netherlands","value":"4.9","yoyChange":"-0.3pp"},{"rank":"21","country":"Slovenia","value":"4.6","yoyChange":"-0.8pp"},{"rank":"22","country":"Denmark","value":"4.2","yoyChange":"-0.2pp"},{"rank":"23","country":"Croatia","value":"2.8","yoyChange":"-0.3pp"},{"rank":"24","country":"Hungary","value":"2.2","yoyChange":"-0.2pp"},{"rank":"25","country":"Estonia","value":"1.9","yoyChange":"-0.3pp"},{"rank":"26","country":"Romania","value":"1.4","yoyChange":"-0.4pp"},{"rank":"27","country":"Lithuania","value":"1.0","yoyChange":"-0.3pp"},{"rank":"28","country":"Latvia","value":"0.9","yoyChange":"unchanged"},{"rank":"29","country":"Bulgaria","value":"0.3","yoyChange":"-0.1pp"}]},"qa":[{"question":"Which European country has the most people working long hours?","answer":"Greece, where 11.8% of employed people usually work 49 hours or more a week, ahead of France, Cyprus and Portugal. What the leaders share is a high self-employment rate. Long hours in Europe are concentrated among the self-employed, farmers, and salaried managers on contracts that count days rather than hours."},{"question":"Why does France rank so high despite the 35-hour week?","answer":"France is second at 9.4%, well above the 5.9% median. The statutory 35-hour week sets the threshold above which overtime is owed to employees on hourly contracts; it does not apply to the self-employed, to farmers, or to the large French population of managers on forfait-jours agreements, whose working time is measured in days worked per year. Statutory hours describe one part of a labour market and say very little about the rest of it, which is why working-time law is a poor predictor of position in this table."},{"question":"What counts as long working hours in this data?","answer":"Usually working 49 hours or more per week in the main job. The threshold sits just above the 48-hour weekly average that the EU Working Time Directive sets as a ceiling for employees, so the measure is designed to capture work beyond what the directive contemplates. Hours in second jobs are excluded, which means the figures understate total working time in countries where multiple job-holding is common."}]}