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OECD: Denmark has world's healthiest work-life balance

Denmark ranks first in work-life balance - with the lowest child poverty among developed nations and a higher than average time spent on leisure and personal care
OECD: Denmark has world's healthiest work-life balance

With the world's lowest child-poverty rate, a high percentage of new mothers working, and a higher than average time spent on leisure, the OECD has found Denmark to have the best work-life balance.

The OECD ranking is based on three key variables:

  1. Percentage of employees working very long hours (more than 50 hours a week)
  2. The employment rate for women with children
  3. The time spent on "leisure and personal care" (including sleeping.)

Some quick facts about work-life balance in Denmark:

  • Danes work 1563 hours a year, lower than the OECD average of 1739 hours
  • The official working week is 37 hours. Overtime is usually compensated financially or with time off instead
  • Employees are entitled to five weeks vacation and to take time off with full pay on the first day a child is sick
  • People in Denmark devote 68% of their day, or 16.3 hours, to personal care and leisure - well above the OECD average
  • 78% of Danish mothers are employed after their children begin school, higher than the OECD average of 66%, suggesting that mothers in Denmark have better opportunities to balance career and family life

Read more about the findings at OECD´s Better Life Initiative
Read more about the quality of life in Denmark

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