site.btaBulgarians Spent an Average of 12:28 Hours on Their Basic Needs in 2022-2023, NSI Data

The population of Bulgaria aged 10 years and older spends an average of 12 hours and 28 minutes a day meeting their basic living needs (sleeping, eating and other personal care). Of those, 5:28 hours are spent on work-related activities, study and household chores, 4:15 hours on leisure and social life, and 1:09 hours on travel. This is according to the results of the sixth consecutive survey "Time Budget of the Population", conducted by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) in the period from March 21, 2022 to March 21, 2023, according to the harmonized methodology of the European Commission (Eurostat), NSI said on Wednesday.

In the group of personal cares, the largest share of time is spent on sleep – 9:17 hours, or 38.7% of the day. An average of 2:16 hours a day was spent on eating, while 55 minutes, or 9.4 and 3.8% of the day respectively, was spent on other personal care.

Compared to 2011, sleep time increased by 4 minutes, and meal time by 15 minutes. Time for other personal care remained about the same.

Men and women spent the same amount of time sleeping, on average 9:17 hours, but men eat 13 minutes longer than women.

The oldest (aged 65 and over) and the youngest (aged 10 to 14) spent the most time sleeping, 10:17 hours and 9:50 hours respectively. Those aged 15 to 29 years spent the most time eating, an average of 2:20 hours per day.

Persons living in urban areas sleep 23 minutes longer than those in rural areas.

Married men sleep and eat 7 minutes longer than men who have never married. In contrast, married women sleep on average 9 minutes less than those never married and spend on average 5 minutes less on personal care.

Sleep time averaged 10 hours on weekends, or 1 hour more than on weekdays. Time spent eating on weekends was also 31 minutes longer.

Average time per day spent by the population aged 15 and over on work, leisure and travel

The population aged 15 and over in Bulgaria spends an average of 2:53 hours per day, or 12% of the day, on paid work. Time spent on home and household care is 3:06 hours, or 12.9% of the day. 

Women spend more time on housework (4:08 hours) than on paid work (2:26 hours), while for men this ratio is in favour of paid work. They spend on average 3:22 hours per day in paid work and 1:58 hour per day in housework. 

In total, women spend an average of 6:34 hours per day on paid and unpaid work, or 1:14 hour more than men.

Preparing food occupies the largest share of home and household care activities at 54 minutes (women 1:23 hours and men 0:22 hours), followed by washing dishes at an average of 23 minutes, and shopping and utilities at 20 minutes.

Individuals aged 15 and over spend an average of 10 minutes per day on physical childcare, with women spending 16 minutes and men 4 minutes per day on this activity. 

Housework on which men spend more time than women is construction and repair, gardening, and keeping farm animals.

The population living in villages spends an average of 3:49 hours, or 58 minutes per day more than the population living in cities, on household chores.

The leisure and social time of people aged 15 and over is 4:04 hours per day. Although men spend on average 56 minutes more in paid work than women, they have 45 minutes more for leisure and social life. 

Most of the population's free time is spent watching TV and video – 2:06 hours, and social media - 52 minutes. 

Those living in cities spend an average of 4:09 hours on social life and leisure, or 20 minutes more than people in rural areas.

People aged 15 and over travel for 1:10 hours daily, with men spending on average 13 minutes more than women on this activity.

Learners 

The average time that those in formal education spend on learning-related activities (classes, lectures, homework and leisure time learning) is 6:04 hours, with men spending 5 minutes more than women and learners living in urban areas spending on average 14 minutes more than those in rural areas. 

Children in the primary stage spend the most time in lessons - an average of 6:41 hours. This is followed by those studying at Master’s level – 6:13 hours. Students doing Bachelor's degree spend the least amount of time in classes and lectures – 5:50 hours.

Secondary education and Master's degree students spend the most time studying in their free time (courses), 1:53 hours and 1:54 hours on average, respectively.

In their leisure time, children in primary schools spend an average of 2:08 hours playing sports and outdoor activities, 2:04 hours watching TV and videos, 1:46 hours playing video games, and 1:10 hours reading books.

As age increases, time for outdoor play decreases while time for video games increases. Thus, secondary school children spend an average of 1:51 hours on sports and outdoor activities and 2:11 hours on video games.

Employed persons

The average time that employees (aged 15 and over) spend on work-related activities (main, secondary, and other work-related activities) is 8:01 hours. Men work on average 17 minutes more than women. Urban and rural employees spend almost the same amount of time at work.

The employed work the longest, on average 8:04 hours. This is 29 minutes longer than the self-employed and 11 minutes longer than the self-employed with workers. Unpaid family workers spent the least time doing work, 7:10 hours.

Commuting to and from work for wage earners takes an average of 1:07 hours.

Although working women spend 17 minutes less on work than working men, they spend an average of 3:07 hours per day caring for their home and family, or 1:14 hours more than men: 34 minutes more in preparing meals, 9 minutes more in washing dishes, 11 minutes more in cleaning the home, and 1:09 hours more in making and repairing clothing and other textiles.

Physical childcare is shared equally, 54 minutes for men and 55 minutes for women, but men spend more time studying, reading and playing with children – 1:10 hours, or 17 minutes more than women. 

Working women spend 2:41 hours on leisure and social life, while working men spend 3:25 hours. Men spend on average 17 minutes more going to the cinema, theatre, exhibitions and sporting events, 41 minutes more playing video games, 37 minutes more practising their hobbies, 23 minutes more playing sports, 20 minutes more watching TV and 15 minutes more reading books.