Whether you’re so bored of your job that you’re planning a full-on career change or you’re lucky enough to enjoy heading into the office, we all need a healthy balance of work and play in our lives.
But your ability to achieve that elusive work-life balance might depend on your country’s culture and attitude towards work. Some countries even have a ‘right to disconnect’ law, which prohibits managers from contacting employees outside of working hours.
To help you figure out the best place for you, international health insurance company William Russell has conducted some research on the best places for families to relocate. As part of that, it analysed the average number of hours and days worked in 2022 to decipher which countries have the healthiest work-life balance – and the results are in.
Coming in at number one, with an average of 1,341 hours worked, or 178 days, it’s Germany! For context, if you don’t count annual leave, the year contains 260 working days, so this is quite impressive.
In second place was Denmark, with an average of 1,372 hours and 182 days worked per year, and in third place was Norway, with 1,425 hours or 189 days worked. Northern Europe dominated the list overall, but Türkiye claimed the tenth spot, with an average of 1,498 hours and 199 days worked.
These are the top ten countries with the best work-life balance
- Germany
- Denmark
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Austria
- Iceland
- Luxembourg
- Finland
- Türkiye
If you’d like to read a bit more about William Russell’s research, you can do so here.
Did you see that this European capital is officially the world’s most liveable city in 2024?
Plus: The world’s best airlines have just been named for 2024.
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