From Luxembourg to Finland: 10 countries with the best work-life balance
Now more than ever workforce around the globe is focusing on work-life balance. As working days can take up a substantial proportion of our lives, finding the time to enjoy ourselves becomes tricky.
A new study by Compare the Market has revealed the best countries for work-life balance based on factors such as average hours worked, maternity and paternal leave, sick pay and happiness scores.
The top 20 countries for work-life balance:
For those looking for the best work-life balance, Luxembourg tops the list with citizens working an average of 1,382 hours per year and receiving an average happiness score of 7.404. For fathers looking to spend more time with their new-borns, Luxembourg is an extremely attractive country offering paid paternal leave of 28 weeks.
Scandanavia heads up a considerable proportion of the top 10 with Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden ranking. A common theme throughout the Scandinavian countries are their overall happiness scores, with each respectively ranking higher than 7.3, and Finland receiving an overall score of 7.821.
The rest of the top ten consists of countries across Europe including the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Estonia, and Germany.
After having a baby, mothers want to spend as much time as possible with their offspring, watching them flourish and grow. So, with three years of maternal leave in Finland and Slovakia, it means that new mothers can spend a large amount of quality time with their children in their early years, with minimised financial worries.
Working long hours, can often lead to burnout and exhaustion. So, finding the right balance is essential for managing well-being. For the countries which work the least overall hours, Germany ranks top working just 1,349 hours, followed by Denmark, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands which all work under an average of 1,400 hours per year.
On the other end of the spectrum, workers in Mexico work almost double this at 2,128 hours a year – this is alongside a paid annual leave of just 6 days! These figures are similar to other countries in South America such as Colombia and Chile which also work over 1,900 hours over the course of the year.