Is the 40-hour work week dead? Here’s what the data says

9 September 2026

In 1817, a Welsh textile maker and reformer Robert Owen coined the slogan – “Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest.” But well into the late 19th century workers were still struggling to gain the 8-hour work day. It was commonplace for workers to toil up to 16 hours daily. The 8-hour limit was pitched by reformers not just as a health precaution but something essential to human dignity, health and safety, family life and civic participation.

It was only after the first world war, the success of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and a series of labour strikes that followed, many countries took the 8-hour work day demand seriously. A 1919 International Labour Organization Hours of Work (Industry) Convention adopted this benchmark and many countries slowly fell in line. Initially, this meant a 48 hour work week (8 hours X 6 days), and it was not until 1962 that it provided a practical roadmap for nations to decrease working hours from 48 to 40.

The Legacy of the 8-Hour Work Day

A century later while many nations now cap the work week at 40, a handful still exist that allow legal working hours per week mirror those of the early industrial age. Legal working hours are the maximum normal working hours prescribed by the applicable labour law beyond which work is treated as overtime.

According to WageIndicator data, 113 out of 240 nations and territories for whom numbers are available have a legal working week of 40 hours. Twenty one countries have a legal working week below 40 hours. France and its overseas territories such as Reunion, Guadeloupe and Martinique have the lowest legal working hours at 35 weekly. Sixty countries including Argentina, India, Germany and Mexico still have a 48 hour weekly cap.

At the other end, Seychelles has a legal ceiling of 60 hours weekly, and Kenya, 52. But do workers there actually work that many hours? Read on below.

(Explore key regulations on working time, overtime, breaks, paid leaves, public holidays and maternity rights in our Working Time Tool.)

Disparities in Global Working Hours

Remember, these are the legal maxima that are allowed by the law in each country. WageIndicator also collects data on standard hours which are defined as working hours per week most common in contracts of full-time workers in formal employment.

Data show that 148 countries and territories (out of 228 for whom data is available) have a standard working week of 40 or fewer hours. Thirty nine countries have a standard working week of 48 hours.

Overall, 42 countries have standard hours of weekly work below legal hours. Seychelles has a standard work week of 40 hours, one-third lower than its legal hours. Kenya too has a standard of 45 hours weekly compared to its 52 hours ceiling.

While the measures of legal hours and standard hours are stipulated by law and employment contracts respectively, the ILO has compiled a database of average actual hours worked weekly by fully employed persons in each country. This data is not strictly comparable as some of it is from as far back as 2010. Nonetheless, it yields some interesting insights.

Out of the 156 countries and territories for which actual working hours are available, workers in 86 toiled 40 hours or fewer. Workers in Sudan, UAE and Bhutan worked over 50 hours, which is higher than the legal limit. Overall, in 39 countries, actual hours worked are more than the standard hours.

Do Workers in Wealthier Nations Work Fewer Hours?

According to ILO data, the Netherlands records the shortest actual work week at 31.03 hours, followed closely by Australia, New Zealand, Reunion, and Denmark, all of which fall below the 34-hour mark. In general, wealthier nations have the lowest average working hours. The 53 nations in this category for whom numbers are available had the lowest average working hours of 37.18 hours weekly. Of course, there are exceptions too like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Why are average actual working hours lower in richer nations? There are multiple explanations. One, as earnings rise, individuals make enough money to meet their needs and therefore, choose reduced working hours and more leisure, or in the case of women, care for the family. Two, wealthier nations tend to have higher tax rates and more generous transfers which reduce the incentive to supply labour.

A reduction in the number of hours worked doesn’t mean a fall in output. Or a decrease in living wages. Higher productivity and the use of modern machines and tools help workers complete their tasks faster.

The 4-Day Work Week: Productivity, Automation, and the Future

Many countries and companies are now trialling the 4-day, 32-hour, work week. A 2022 study by Schor, Wen Fan and others which looked at the pilots across 33 companies and 903 employees in the US, Ireland, and a few other countries found that revenues and hiring rose, while absenteeism and resignations fell.

“Perhaps the bottom line for success is what we found in terms of how much more employees valued their current job at the end of the trial,” it concluded.

A 32-hour work week is still a far cry from what economist John Maynard Keynes predicted almost a 100 years ago. In his 1930 essay Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Keynes talked about a three-hour shift or 15-hour work week being sufficient to satisfy one’s material and subsistence needs.

Now, as automation increases in workplaces and artificial intelligence boosts productivity, economists like Thomas Piketty, a co-director of the Word Inequality Lab (WIL) and a professor at the Paris School of Economics are advocating a 25-hour week. A recent report from WIL argues that standards of living can be raised, and global warming kept under a 2C rise from pre-industrial levels by reducing working hours, taxing extreme wealth and focusing investments on education and health.

For now though, while progressive thinkers talk about a 5-hour work day, the lived reality for the average worker in the world is close to double that number.