Countries by Long Work Hours
Complete ranking of 36 countries • Percentage of employees • Updated 2026
About Long Hours In Paid Work Rankings
Mexico leads all 36 countries in Long Hours In Paid Work with a value of 25.91, while Latvia ranks last at 0.49. This represents a 53-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Long Hours In Paid Work Measures
Long Hours In Paid Work is a comparative indicator tracked across countries by the OECD. It provides a quantitative basis for cross-national comparison, enabling researchers and policymakers to benchmark national performance on this dimension against global peers.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Long Hours In Paid Work across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 0.49 (Latvia) to 25.91 (Mexico) — a 53-fold difference across 36 countries.
Regional Patterns
European countries dominate this ranking, holding 12 of the top 20 positions. This strong regional concentration suggests shared economic, geographic, or policy factors that drive higher values across the continent.
Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 2.89 to 9.22. The overall spread from 0.49 to 25.91 reflects significant global variation.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: Mexico and Turkey are separated by only 15%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data. The bottom five countries are all from Europe, pointing to regional challenges that affect long hours in paid work across the continent.
Continental Leaders
Highest Ranked
The top five countries for Long Hours In Paid Work are Mexico (25.91), Turkey (22.53), Colombia (18.63), Costa Rica (15.05), and New Zealand (11.59). Together, these nations represent the global leaders in this metric.
Lowest Ranked
At the other end of the spectrum, Latvia (0.49), Lithuania (1.17), Hungary (1.61), Estonia (1.96), and Netherlands (1.97) have the lowest values globally.
Data Source & Methodology
Rankings are based on the latest available data from OECD, covering 36 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
Top 10 Countries
Full Rankings
| Percentile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st |  Mexico | 25.9% | North America | 100% |
| 2nd |  Turkey | 22.5% | Europe | 97% |
| 3rd |  Colombia | 18.6% | North America | 94% |
| 4th |  Costa Rica | 15.1% | North America | 92% |
| 5th |  New Zealand | 11.6% | Oceania | 89% |
| 6th |  Israel | 11.2% | Asia | 86% |
| 7th |  Iceland | 10.5% | Europe | 83% |
| 8th |  Australia | 10.2% | Oceania | 81% |
| 9th |  United Kingdom | 9.2% | Europe | 78% |
| 10th |  United States | 9.2% | North America | 75% |
| 11th |  Portugal | 6.9% | Europe | 72% |
| 12th |  France | 6.0% | Europe | 69% |
| 13th |  Luxembourg | 5.6% | Europe | 67% |
| 14th |  Chile | 5.2% | South America | 64% |
| 15th |  Sweden | 5.2% | Europe | 61% |
| 16th |  Switzerland | 5.0% | Europe | 58% |
| 17th |  Austria | 4.2% | Europe | 56% |
| 18th |  Norway | 4.1% | Europe | 53% |
| 19th |  Ireland | 3.9% | Europe | 50% |
| 20th |  Belgium | 3.6% | Europe | 47% |
| 21st |  Canada | 3.4% | North America | 44% |
| 22nd |  Greece | 3.2% | Europe | 42% |
| 23rd |  Czechia | 3.2% | Europe | 39% |
| 24th |  Poland | 3.0% | Europe | 36% |
| 25th |  Italy | 3.0% | Europe | 33% |
| 26th |  Germany | 2.9% | Europe | 31% |
| 27th |  Slovenia | 2.9% | Europe | 28% |
| 28th |  Slovakia | 2.9% | Europe | 25% |
| 29th |  Denmark | 2.7% | Europe | 22% |
| 30th |  Finland | 2.5% | Europe | 19% |
| 31st |  Spain | 2.3% | Europe | 17% |
| 32nd |  Netherlands | 2.0% | Europe | 14% |
| 33rd |  Estonia | 2.0% | Europe | 11% |
| 34th |  Hungary | 1.6% | Europe | 8% |
| 35th |  Lithuania | 1.2% | Europe | 6% |
| 36th |  Latvia | 0.5% | Europe | 3% |