The average actual working week for employed people aged 20 to 64 in the European Union fell to 35.9 hours in 2025, down from 36.9 hours in 2015, according to new Eurostat data published on 27 May 2026. The figures capture both full-time and part-time workers and show a wide gap between southern and northern Europe, as well as between professions.
Greece recorded the longest average working week in the EU at 39.6 hours, followed by Bulgaria and Poland at 38.7 hours each, and Lithuania at 38.4 hours. At the other end of the scale, the Netherlands had the shortest working week at 31.9 hours, with Denmark and Germany both at 33.9 hours and Austria at 34.0 hours.
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The data underline that working-time patterns are shaped not just by labour law but also by the mix of full-time and part-time employment in each country. In countries such as the Netherlands, a high share of part-time work pulls the average down, while economies with more full-time employment or longer standard hours tend to record higher figures.
Occupations also differ sharply. Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers had the longest actual working week in the EU at 42.0 hours, followed by managers at 40.6 hours and armed forces occupations at 39.4 hours. By contrast, the shortest working weeks were recorded in elementary occupations (31.8 hours), clerical support workers (34.0 hours), and service and sales workers (34.5 hours).
For Switzerland, the Eurostat release is a useful point of comparison, even though it is not an EU member.
