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

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

As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, Colombians’ and Costa Ricans’ lives aren’t really in balance either. The United States and the United Kingdom also performed pretty poorly, coming in 13th and 14th out of all 38 OECD member countries (plus Russia, Brazil and South Africa) covered in the Better Life Index for 2020.

Cultures of overwork also led to undesirable results in South Korea and Japan.

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At the other end of the spectrum, people in Italy enjoy the best work-life balance.

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Unsurprisingly, the most important aspects for a healthy work-life balance is the amount of time people spend (not) at work, how many people work very long hours and how much time remains for leisure. The authors of the Better Life Index note that “evidence suggests that long work hours may impair personal health, jeopardise safety and increase stress.”

Employed Italians had the most time for leisure and personal activities in the survey, while only 3 percent of employees in the country worked very long hours (50 or more hours a week).

In comparison, 10.4 percent of American employees worked very long hours, causing the United States to rank much lower (29th out of 41 countries in the running).