Country rankings
What Countries have Four-Day Work Weeks?
South Africa has the highest Average Working Hours (45.0), followed by Brazil (44.0) and Japan (40.0). Netherlands has the lowest (29.0).
Economics22 countries · 4 metricsUpdated Feb 13, 2025Original page
9 sources
- Countries with a 4 Day Work Week - 4DayWeek
- Which countries have already adopted a 4-day working week? - Madison Bridge
- Four-day week: Which countries have embraced it and how’s it going so far? - Euronews
- Four-day Workweek - Wiki
- Belgium Is The Latest Country To Join The Four-Day Workweek - Forbes
- These Countries Have Introduced a Four-Day Week: Here's Where the US Stands - Newsweek
- A 4-day workweek: Is it productive or just counterintuitive - CEO World
- A 4-day workweek is the norm in Iceland. Could the same become true in the U.S.? - CNBC
- 8 Countries Across The Globe That Have Shifted To Four-Day Work Week - ScoopWhoop
Average Working HoursBetter directionWhether a higher or a lower value is better. A green arrow means higher is better, a red arrow means lower is better, and no arrow means neither.More in the glossary →
22 of 235 countriesAverage Working Hours
Darker means higher. Click a place to highlight it.
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All 22 ranked
Highest first.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one country; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
36.0
Middle half 34.7 – 40.0
Average
37.0
22 countries
Highest
45.0
South Africa
Lowest
29.0
Netherlands
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
22 countries · # = rank by Average Working Hours
| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  South Africa | Yes | 45.0 | Large 4-day week pilot | 28 companies piloted a 4-day workweek in 2023 with no loss in pay |
| 2 |  Brazil | Yes | 44.0 | Large 4 day week pilot | Started a 9-month trial in September 2023 |
| 3 |  Japan | Yes | 40.0 | Government 4-day week (Recommendation) | Gov't recommended companies allow 4-day workweeks in 2021 |
| 3 |  Spain | Yes | 40.0 | Government 4-day week pilot | Gov't proposed €50M to help companies trial 4-day workweeks |
| 3 |  Canada | Yes | 40.0 | Large 4 day week pilot | Dozens of companies participating in a 4 Day Week Global pilot |
| 3 |  Belgium | Yes | 40.0 | Right to work 4 days | Workers can switch to a 4-day week, typically 4x10 hour days |
| 3 |  New Zealand | Yes | 40.0 | Large 4-day week pilot | 26 organizations participated in a 4-day workweek trial |
| 8 |  Portugal | Yes | 39.0 | 4-day workweek pilot | 41 companies trialed a 4-day workweek |
| 8 |  Ireland | Yes | 39.0 | Large 4-day week pilot | 17 businesses trialed a 4-day workweek for 6 months in 2022 |
| 10 |  United States | Yes | 38.7 | 4-day workweek pilot | 30+ companies participated in a 4-day workweek pilot |
| 11 |  United Kingdom | Yes | 36.0 | Large 4-day week pilot | 60 businesses with 3,000 staff trialed a 4-day workweek for 6 months in 2022 |
| 11 |  Australia | Yes | 36.0 | 4 day work week pilot | 26 companies participated in a trial |
| 11 |  United Arab Emirates | Yes | 36.0 | Government 4.5-day workweek | Shortened workweek for gov't employees (half-day Friday) |
| 11 |  Iceland | Yes | 36.0 | Public sector 4-day work week | Largest pilot (35-36 hrs) with 2.5k participants |
| 15 |  Austria | Yes | 35.5 | Short average workweek | Has the 6th shortest average workweek (35.5 hrs) according to OECD |
| 16 |  France | Yes | 35.0 | 4 day week pilot, 35 hr workweek | Launched a national 4-day workweek pilot in 2024, improving on their 35 hr/week mandate |
| 17 |  Switzerland | Yes | 34.6 | Large 4-day week pilot, Short workweek | Swiss companies piloting a 4-day week; 4th shortest avg. workweek (34.6 hrs) |
| 18 |  Germany | Yes | 34.0 | 4 day week campaigns | 45 companies participated in a pilot |
| 19 |  Norway | Yes | 33.6 | Short average workweek | 3rd shortest avg. workweek in the world (33.6 hrs) |
| 20 |  Denmark | Yes | 33.0 | Short average workweek | Denmark has the 2nd shortest average workweek (33 hrs) according to OECD |
| 21 |  Sweden | Yes | 30.0 | Large 4-day week pilot | Multiple companies piloting a 4-day workweek in 2024 |
| 22 |  Netherlands | Yes | 29.0 | Short average workweek | Has the shortest average workweek in the world |
What correlates with Average Working Hours?
Pearson r against 2,114 other country metrics sharing at least 14 countries. Ranks are read by standing: a better rank counts as higher, whether rank 1 is the best place on a list or the worst. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Average Working Hours tend to score higher on these (or rank better)
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Average Working Hours tend to score lower on these (or rank worse)
- Plot
- Plot
- Plot
- LP Economic QualityLegatum Prosperity IndexA rank: rank 1 is the bestPlotr = +0.77 · very strong · n = 22
- Plot
- Ladder of Life Score (self-reported well-being)Happy Planet Index by CountryPlotr = −0.76 · very strong · n = 22
Quick answers
- Which country has the highest Average Working Hours?
- South Africa has the highest Average Working Hours, at 45.0, followed by Brazil (44.0) and Japan (40.0).
- Which country has the lowest Average Working Hours?
- Netherlands has the lowest Average Working Hours, at 29.0.
- What is the median Average Working Hours across countries?
- The median is 36.0 across the 22 countries with data.
- Where does this what countries have four-day work weeks? data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Countries with a 4 Day Work Week - 4DayWeek; Which countries have already adopted a 4-day working week? - Madison Bridge; Four-day week: Which countries have embraced it and how’s it going so far? - Euronews; Four-day Workweek - Wiki.