The Countries With The Best (And Worst) Work-Life Balance

Colombians are among those struggling most with their work-life balance, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Mexicans’ lives aren’t really in balance either, and as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, the United States and the United Kingdom also perform pretty poorly, coming in 11th and 12th out of all 35 OECD member countries (plus Russia, Brazil and South Africa) covered in the Better Life Index for 2019.

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The most important aspect for a healthy work-life balance is the amount of time people spend (not) at work. The index also takes into account leisure and personal time, the employment rate of mothers and other factors. The authors of the Better Life Index note that “evidence suggests that long work hours may impair personal health, jeopardise safety and increase stress.”

At the other end of the scale, people in the Netherlands enjoy the best work-life balance.

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In the Netherlands, only 0.4 percent of employees work very long hours (50 or more hours a week), the third-lowest rate in the OECD, where the average is 11 percent.

In comparison, 11.1 percent of American employees work very long hours, so the United States doesn’t make it in to the top ten ranking. It ranks 27th out of 38 considered countries. Also, the U.S. is the only OECD country without a national paid parental leave policy – although three states do provide leave payments.