Expats living in the European Union can expect to have a working live of just over 35 years – up nearly two years in a decade.
The main reason behind the rise is women are spending more time at work – up from an average 30.2 years in 2005 to 32.8 years in 2015.
For men, time at work has increased, from 36.7 to 37.9 years, says the latest report scrutinising how long men and women spend working in each member state from the EU official statistics body Eurostat.
Employees in Sweden put in the longest shift – an average 41.2 years.
Those in Italy work the least – an average 30.7 years.
Swedes work more than 10 years longer than Italians
The countries with the longest working lives besides Sweden are:
- The Netherlands – 39.9 years
- Denmark – 39.2 years
- Britain – 38.6 years
- Germany – 38 years
Besides Italy, the other countries listing the shortest average working life are:
- Bulgaria – 32.1 years
- Greece – 32.3 years
- Belgium, Croatia, Hungary and Poland – 32.6 years
- Romania – 32.8 years
Men have a longer average working life in every EU state except Lithuania.
Since 2005, when Eurostat last carried out the survey, the average working life has increased in every EU state – although Denmark, Portugal and Ireland saw a modest rise of a month or two.
Workers in Malta saw the biggest jump in the time they spend at work – 5.1 years.
Hungary saw the time expand by 4.2 years, while Luxembourg, Estonia and Lithuania all had increases of around three years.
Rich man, poor man divide
Malta also saw the largest rise in the length of the working life for women – up 8.6 years.
The rise was between three and five years in Spain, Luxembourg, Hungary, Cyprus, Lithuania, Germany and Austria.
Meanwhile, men are spending less time at work in Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal – all countries where the governments have gone cap in hand for Eu bail outs in recent years.
Mapping the data, men and women tend to have longer working lives in the richer Northern European countries – Switzerland, The Netherlands, Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
The statistics cover 28 EU states plus the European Economic Area countries of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
Download the full report, including country-by-country listings
