See what a high band reads like.

P1The table compares average annual hours worked per worker and minimum statutory paid leave entitlement in days for five countries in 2019.

P2Overall, the UK and Germany combined lower annual working hours with higher statutory leave than the other three countries, although the relationship was not uniformly inverse. The USA was notable for having zero statutory paid leave despite working hours well above the European nations.

P3Mexico's workers averaged 2,137 hours per year, the highest in the table, and were entitled to only 12 days of statutory leave. The USA ranked second in hours at 1,779, but the table listed zero days of statutory paid leave. Japan recorded 1,644 hours annually with 10 days of leave, placing it between the high-hours American and Mexican economies and the lower-hours European ones.

P4The UK and Germany worked considerably fewer hours per year, at 1,538 and 1,386 respectively, and both offered more generous leave. The UK's statutory entitlement was 28 days, more than double Mexico's, while Germany's minimum entitlement was 20 days alongside the lowest average annual hours in the table. The gap in annual hours between Mexico and Germany was 751 hours. The rankings were not exact opposites: the UK had more leave than Germany despite longer hours, and Mexico combined the longest hours with more leave than the USA or Japan.