site.btaBulgaria Registers Fewest Extra Working Hours in EU in 2024

In 2024, Bulgaria registered the lowest share of employees working additional hours among all EU member states, according to Eurostat data released Thursday. Only 0.4% of employees in Bulgaria aged 20 to 64 worked more than 49 hours per week in 2024.

Across the EU, 6.6% of employed people in this age group worked long hours at their main job in 2024. Eurostat said that this category includes employees who usually put in 49 hours or more per week. The share of employees working more than 49 hours weekly has been steadily declining across the Union – from 9.8% in 2014, to 8.4% in 2019, 7.1% in 2023, and 6.6% in 2024.

Among EU countries, Greece had the highest proportion of employees working long hours in 2024 (12.4%), followed by Cyprus (10%) and France (9.9%). At the opposite end, alongside Bulgaria, the lowest shares were registered in Latvia (1%) and Lithuania (1.4%).