Indians work 8.1 hours a day, more than many Westerners

Indians work for 8.1 hours every day, more than the average figure for the entire developed world and individual countries like the UK, Australia, France, Italy and Germany. However, the average work-hour for Indians is less than the same for people in countries like the US, China and Japan, while those in Mexico are the busiest in the world, a new global survey has found.

"Mexicans work longer days than anyone else in OECD countries, devoting 10 hours to paid and unpaid work, such as cleaning or cooking at home,” found the survey by Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, an international grouping of the world's top developed nations. The average for the OECD nations is 8 hours a day, slightly below the figure for Indians at 8.1 hours (486 minutes).Mexico is followed by Japan (9 hours) as the second longest day of paid and non-paid work, while Belgium has been ranked lowest (7.1 hours). In terms of unpaid work only, Mexicans again do the most (more than 3 hours per day), while Koreans the least at 1 hour and 19 minutes.

Indians spend 191 minutes (nearly 3.2 hours) on unpaid work and little below five hours on paid work every day. Much of the unpaid work globally is spent cooking, and Americans spend the least time cooking each day (30 minutes) and Turks the most (74 minutes). Most people spend around 50 minutes a day cooking, the survey found. Besides cooking, shopping also makes up a big part of unpaid work.

Most people in OECD countries spend 23 minutes a day shopping, with the French spending the most (32 minutes) and the Koreans the least (13 minutes). The total work-time has been pegged at 594 minutes for Mexico, 540 minutes for Japan, 504 minutes for China, 498 minutes in New Zealand and 496 minutes for the US.

Among the countries ranked below India, those in Korea work for 484 minutes, 481 minutes in Australia, 474 minutes in Italy, 473 minutes in the UK, 451 minutes in Finland, 448 minutes in France, 445 minutes in Germany and 427 minutes in Belgium. The OECD report also found that the value of unpaid work is considerable, equivalent to about one-third of GDP in OECD countries, ranging from a low of 19 per cent in Korea to a high of 53 per cent in Portugal.

In terms of paid work only, Japanese worked the most (6.3 hours a day), while those in Denmark worked the least (3.75 hours per day).