Myths about the “laziness” of residents of resort countries, widespread in Europe, turned out to be just that: myths. Such data was shown by a recent report by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), which named the European countries where you need to work the least, and where, on the contrary, you need to work the most. The longest working week was in Greece, and at the other end of the scale are such traditionally “advanced” countries as the Netherlands and Germany.
On average, Europeans aged 20 to 64 work 37.5 hours per week. At the same time, the shortest working week was recorded in the Netherlands – 33.2 hours per week, followed by Germany with 35.3 hours per week and Denmark, where it is only ten minutes more. Norway, which is not far behind, is also in fourth place – 35.5.
At the opposite end of the scale – where the number of working hours per week was the longest – “lazy” Greece suddenly took first place. She has the longest working day in Europe – 41 hours. But this is not a record – Eurostat assures that if you go outside the European Union, Serbia will be the leader – you have to work 43.3 hours a week there. Greece is being “caught up” by other countries of Eastern Europe, both those that have joined the European Union and those rushing to join it – these are Poland, as well as Romania and Bulgaria, in all countries the working hours are 40.2.
At the “hard-working” end of the list, there are other resort countries. Thus, in Portugal the working week turned out to be 39.9 hours long, in the Czech Republic 39.8, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovakia are not far behind them, where working hours are 39.6 per week. In Austria and Switzerland, people work on average 36 hours a week. In Spain, this figure reaches 37.8 hours, and in Italy and France – 37.4.