Countries With the Lowest Hours Worked (PWT)

Every country with a figure for hours worked (PWT), ranked from lowest to highest. The top three are Germany (1,335), Denmark (1,380) and Yemen, Rep. (1,382). The middle country of the 130 has 1,975.

What this measures

Average annual hours worked per person engaged (Penn World Table), in hours per year. Source: Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen. For this measure, no agreed better direction.

Hours actually worked in a year, averaged over everyone with a job, including the self-employed and part-timers. It measures the same thing as the OECD hours measure, and for countries in both the two mostly agree. This one is kept because it reaches much further: about 130 countries each year from 2010 to 2023, where the OECD series has 38 countries and stops in 2016. Before 2000 it covers mainly rich countries. No "better" direction is set.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2023–2023. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on hours worked (PWT)

• Countries With the Highest Hours Worked (PWT)
• Hours worked (PWT) by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

• Countries With the Lowest Active Labour Market Spending
• Countries With the Lowest Unemployment Benefit Spending
• Countries With the Lowest Retirement Age, Men
• Countries With the Lowest Retirement Age, Women
• Countries With the Lowest Hours Worked
• Countries With the Lowest Informal Employment
• Countries With the Lowest Unemployment
• Countries With the Lowest Female Labor Participation

A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.