Brussels, Aug. 21, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal was the European Union country with the fourth-longest working hours in 2024, with 9.2% of workers working 49 hours or more per week, above the European average of 6.6%, according to Eurostat.

According to data released by Eurostat, 6.6% of people employed in the EU bloc aged between 20 and 64 in 2024 had long working hours, defined as 49 hours or more per week.

According to the European statistics office, the percentage of workers in this situation has decreased over the years, ‘from 9.8% in 2014 to 8.4% in 2019’.

Portugal is above the EU average, being the fourth country in the European Union (EU) with the highest percentage of hours worked: 9.2% of workers between the ages of 20 and 64 worked 49 hours or more per week last year.

Among the other member states, Greece has the highest percentage of workers with long working hours (12.4%), followed by Cyprus and France.

At the opposite pole, i.e. with the lowest rate, is Bulgaria (0.4%), followed by Latvia (1.0%) and Lithuania (1.4%).

According to Eurostat, the percentage of self-employed workers who worked long hours (27.5% of all self-employed workers) was higher than that of employees (3.4% of all employees).

Among the various occupational groups, long working hours were more common among skilled agricultural, forestry and fishing workers (26.2% of all workers in this occupational group) and managers (21.1%).

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