Leisurely Europe leads the way in time off
The number of days when workers in the professions surveyed are on official leave or have a holiday also varies widely among the cities of the world. In some places, these are less than 10, while in others they come to over 30. Greece is one of the lucky countries. With the exception of teachers, Greek workers have 30 whole days off work during the year, when the world average is 21. Athenians enjoy the longest holidays, including official days off (but not including strikes) in the European Union, together with workers in Barcelona and Frankfurt. Worldwide, only workers in Lima, Peru, Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Lagos, Nigeria, have so many days off. More generally, Europeans are entitled to the most days off and workers in North America and Asia, the least. Workers can take paid leave only eight days a year in Hong Kong, in Taipei only 13 days, in Manila in the Philippines, 14, in Jakarta, Indonesia, 11 and in Singapore, 14. The permitted number of days off does not exceed 11 in Los Angeles, 14 in Toronto, Canada, and 10 in New York. According to the same data, Asians work the most hours annually. On average, workers in Asian cities examined by UBS work 2,194 hours annually (workers in Hong Kong, Mumbai in India, Karachi in Pakistan and Manila work over 2,300 hours annually), while the corresponding average in Western Europe is 1,757 hours a year, almost 52 days less. In Paris, workers put in just 1,561 hours of work a year, in Copenhagen 1,658 and in Berlin 1,666. Eastern Europeans work the hardest (in Budapest, Prague, Bratislava and Vilnius) while Athens lies somewhere in the middle, with an average of 1,774 working hours annually.
