Data for 2021

Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2021

Name: Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2021
Creator: International Labour Organization (ILO)
License: https://www.ilo.org/rights-and-permissions

2021, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2021 covers 187 countries on 3 measures. United Arab Emirates is highest, at 51.22; Yemen is lowest, at 25.90. The middle country reads 38.78. Against 2020, 187 values changed (161 up, 26 down), the same countries are covered.

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Average Weekly Hours Worked · Data for 2021

HighestUnited Arab Emirates

51.22

LowestYemen

25.90

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

187countries
3measures per country
2021the year it describes
179distinct values2 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2021, as published. ILO ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 187 countries · select a heading to sort

Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2021: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	51.22	51.67	51.10	—
2	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	50.71	49.40	51.67	Real value
3	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	50.16	44.50	51.49	—
4	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	48.99	50.42	47.57	—
5	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	47.97	47.52	48.39	—
6	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	47.88	47.77	47.90	—
7	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	47.81	45.61	49.48	—
8	India`IND`Southern Asia	47.69	39.45	50.58	Real value
9	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	47.13	45.52	48.63	—
10	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	46.69	33.64	50.38	Real value
11	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	46.58	42.12	47.43	Real value
12	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	46.14	44.50	47.20	Real value
13	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	46.12	42.30	47.32	—
14	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	46.01	39.22	48.47	—
15	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	45.78	36.10	51.12	—
16	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	45.73	45.46	45.98	—
=17	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	45.65	42.82	47.91	Real value
=17	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	45.65	36.09	48.49	—
19	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	45.52	42.80	47.69	Real value
20	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	45.37	45.68	45.04	—
21	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	45.11	42.98	46.77	—
22	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	44.81	41.71	46.87	—
23	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	44.79	40.88	48.17	—
24	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	44.40	40.88	45.03	—
25	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	44.15	41.70	45.11	—
26	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	44.00	34.54	46.73	Real value
27	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	43.91	36.94	47.89	—
28	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	43.90	33.46	45.67	Real value
29	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	43.77	41.52	45.53	—
=30	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	43.75	43.18	44.23	—
=30	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	43.75	42.16	44.63	—
32	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	43.60	43.03	43.93	Real value
33	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	43.42	42.15	44.29	Real value
34	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	43.36	39.62	45.05	Real value
35	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	43.31	41.87	44.52	Real value
36	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	42.94	37.21	44.07	Real value
37	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	42.78	39.75	45.53	—
38	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	42.68	42.21	43.17	—
39	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	42.65	40.02	45.04	Real value
40	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	42.58	36.66	46.38	—
41	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	42.50	34.72	43.89	—
42	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	42.37	40.09	44.57	—
43	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	42.16	40.48	43.52	Real value
44	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	41.94	40.40	42.85	—
45	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	41.90	38.50	43.78	—
46	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	41.82	38.40	43.39	—
47	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	41.77	40.64	42.53	Real value
48	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	41.71	39.45	43.77	Real value
49	Guyana`GUY`South America	41.69	38.24	44.06	—
50	Colombia`COL`South America	41.66	37.52	44.30	Real value
51	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	41.65	39.98	43.28	—
52	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	41.62	38.91	43.74	—
=53	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	41.38	38.55	44.02	—
=53	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	41.38	38.59	43.56	Real value
55	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	41.37	39.99	42.72	—
56	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	41.32	41.15	41.46	—
57	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	41.27	38.62	43.48	Real value
58	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	41.24	38.51	43.77	—
59	Mexico`MEX`Central America	41.22	36.77	44.05	Real value
60	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	41.00	40.76	41.20	—
=61	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	40.88	38.28	43.00	Real value
=61	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	40.88	36.03	43.40	—
63	Honduras`HND`Central America	40.74	37.41	42.84	Real value
64	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	40.66	37.75	42.68	—
65	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	40.54	40.42	40.64	Real value
66	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	40.53	39.52	41.61	—
67	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	40.51	36.23	41.61	—
68	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	40.35	35.65	42.84	—
69	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	40.27	37.65	42.69	—
70	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	40.24	34.03	42.88	—
71	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	40.23	36.29	43.13	—
72	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	40.10	34.84	43.06	—
73	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	39.90	34.88	43.11	Real value
74	Suriname`SUR`South America	39.87	35.32	42.85	—
75	Belize`BLZ`Central America	39.86	36.34	41.88	—
76	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	39.82	36.53	42.12	—
77	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	39.76	37.99	41.54	Real value
78	Niger`NER`Western Africa	39.47	34.21	43.54	—
=79	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	39.43	36.68	41.88	—
=79	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	39.43	37.28	41.24	Real value
81	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	39.41	35.99	40.10	—
82	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	39.26	36.45	41.80	—
83	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	39.17	39.45	38.98	Real value
84	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	39.16	35.21	42.08	—
85	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	39.15	37.97	40.27	Real value
86	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	39.13	38.17	39.85	Real value
=87	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	39.11	31.37	40.60	Real value
=87	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	39.11	35.97	41.92	—
89	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	39.08	35.79	41.93	—
90	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	39.06	38.69	39.37	Real value
91	Paraguay`PRY`South America	39.03	35.61	41.38	Real value
92	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	38.96	36.46	40.12	—
93	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	38.88	36.00	41.17	—
94	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	38.78	34.68	42.68	—
95	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	38.68	35.53	41.83	Real value
96	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	38.59	32.48	44.32	—
97	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	38.53	35.20	41.06	Real value
=98	Bolivia`BOL`South America	38.46	34.75	41.55	Real value
=98	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	38.46	34.99	40.66	Real value
100	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	38.36	37.48	39.11	Real value
101	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	38.32	36.86	40.03	Real value
102	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	38.24	35.15	40.13	Real value
103	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	38.19	33.83	41.92	Real value
104	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	38.12	37.02	39.09	—
=105	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	37.96	36.63	38.90	Real value
=105	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	37.96	34.38	39.65	Real value
107	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	37.88	32.81	42.78	—
108	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	37.84	34.84	40.31	—
109	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	37.82	36.52	39.04	Real value
110	Brazil`BRA`South America	37.74	34.80	39.82	Real value
111	Peru`PER`South America	37.66	33.86	40.83	—
112	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	37.65	35.74	39.08	—
113	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	37.55	34.46	40.42	—
114	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	37.51	34.04	40.07	Real value
115	Venezuela`VEN`South America	37.40	36.21	38.16	—
116	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	37.28	35.80	38.66	—
117	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	37.02	34.22	39.78	—
118	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	36.92	35.46	37.81	Real value
119	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	36.91	34.37	39.00	Real value
120	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	36.88	22.03	39.91	Real value
121	Ecuador`ECU`South America	36.79	30.97	40.79	—
122	Chile`CHL`South America	36.78	33.34	39.16	Real value
123	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	36.73	32.85	40.37	—
124	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	36.63	34.38	38.30	Real value
125	United States`USA`Northern America	36.58	34.24	38.52	Real value
126	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	36.53	33.98	38.22	Real value
127	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	36.06	34.96	36.61	—
128	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	35.81	34.28	37.39	—
129	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	35.74	33.59	37.65	—
130	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	35.71	32.88	38.57	—
131	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	35.52	33.21	37.80	Real value
132	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	35.50	29.44	39.34	—
133	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	35.38	31.22	39.23	Real value
134	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	35.00	32.05	37.29	—
135	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	34.82	34.52	35.11	—
136	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	34.73	32.30	36.83	Real value
137	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	34.69	32.74	36.62	Real value
138	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	34.63	32.24	36.51	Real value
139	Argentina`ARG`South America	34.55	29.25	38.37	Real value
140	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	34.52	34.08	34.93	—
141	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	34.38	29.38	38.78	Real value
142	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	34.36	33.22	35.48	Real value
143	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	34.22	32.24	36.18	Real value
144	Panama`PAN`Central America	34.14	32.32	35.31	Real value
145	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	34.09	31.97	35.87	Real value
146	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	34.04	32.63	35.23	Real value
147	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	34.03	32.72	35.13	Real value
148	Uruguay`URY`South America	34.02	30.11	37.31	—
149	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	33.94	32.05	35.75	—
150	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	33.84	31.47	35.45	Real value
151	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	33.78	32.18	35.06	Real value
152	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	33.57	31.51	35.59	—
153	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	33.38	30.26	36.12	Real value
154	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	33.36	29.13	36.41	Real value
155	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	33.27	29.90	36.28	—
156	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	33.10	32.03	33.94	Real value
157	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	32.88	28.81	36.33	—
158	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	32.52	30.48	34.49	Real value
159	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	32.24	29.85	34.39	—
160	Canada`CAN`Northern America	32.15	29.03	34.93	Real value
161	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	32.05	29.97	34.05	Real value
162	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	31.88	28.57	35.44	—
163	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	31.79	28.69	34.40	Real value
164	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	31.43	27.41	34.98	Real value
165	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	31.16	22.25	32.79	—
166	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	31.15	28.44	33.59	—
167	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	30.98	28.56	31.98	—
168	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	30.91	27.05	34.01	—
169	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	30.67	27.16	33.64	Real value
170	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	30.61	26.08	34.53	—
171	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	30.31	17.36	32.06	Real value
172	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	30.27	27.26	31.31	—
173	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	30.15	26.54	33.51	—
174	France`FRA`Western Europe	30.13	27.29	32.80	Real value
175	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	30.08	25.86	33.01	—
176	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	29.83	26.50	32.24	Real value
177	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	29.77	25.54	33.48	Real value
178	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	29.47	24.82	33.54	Real value
179	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	29.44	26.94	31.73	Real value
180	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	29.42	26.40	32.10	Real value
181	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	29.38	25.69	32.80	Real value
182	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	29.35	27.14	31.31	Real value
183	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	28.77	26.21	30.97	Real value
184	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	27.57	28.66	26.62	—
185	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	27.20	24.33	29.77	Real value
186	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	26.77	22.19	30.83	Real value
187	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	25.90	17.83	26.45	—

02In 2021

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

Lowest

187Yemen25.90
186Netherlands26.77
185Norway27.20
184Vanuatu27.57
183Rwanda28.77

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 38.78. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Women (hours)
HighestUnited Arab Emirates51.67
LowestIraq17.36
Middle country: 35.21
Men (hours)
HighestBhutan51.67
LowestYemen26.45
Middle country: 40.79

032020 → 2021

Since 2020

What changed between 2020 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
187values changed, of 187 in both
161 · 26rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Uganda33.24 → 41.71+8.47
Dominican Republic33.74 → 38.46+4.72
Palestine34.88 → 39.11+4.23
Colombia37.96 → 41.66+3.70
Argentina30.93 → 34.55+3.62

Fell most

Myanmar44.63 → 41.94−2.69
Rwanda30.86 → 28.77−2.09
Mongolia47.45 → 45.52−1.93
Luxembourg32.20 → 30.67−1.53
Vietnam40.23 → 39.15−1.08

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from ILO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 2021.
179 distinct values among 187
Values are stored exactly as published, to 2 decimals. 2 countries share 45.65. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
ILO publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
97 empty cells
An empty cell means the publisher gave no figure. It is never a zero.
Some readings carry a flag
ILO marks readings it considers estimates or provisional. The flags in this file: Real value.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
187 rows · 8.2 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download weekly-hours-2021-nations-inquiry.csv
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The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
https://rplumber.ilo.org/data/indicator/?id=HOW_2EMP_SEX_NB&format=.csv&channel=ilostat

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

International Labour Organization (ILO) (2021). Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2021 [data set], describing 2021. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/weekly-hours/2021

0621 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2020
187 countries
The year after ›
Average Weekly Hours Worked, 2022
186 countries
All of them
Average Weekly Hours Worked: every year
21 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions