New data analysed by RS Components has found that South Africa has placed 7th in the world in the list of hardest-working countries, with the average working week consisting of 43 hours.
South Africa is just one of the African countries that appear in the data, see below the full list of African countries and where they place in the list of hardest-working countries.
| Rank | Country | Average working week (hours) |
| 5th | Namibia | 45 |
| 6th | Egypt | 44 |
| 6th | Algeria | 44 |
| 7th | South Africa | 43 |
| 8th | Seychelles | 42 |
| 9th | Zambia | 41 |
| 10th | Uganda | 40 |
| 10th | Ghana | 40 |
| 11th | Mauritius | 39 |
| 17th | Rwanda | 33 |
Africa’s working week averages out as 41 hours, which is more than the working weeks of over half of the countries included in the data.
The nations with the shortest working weeks are predominantly found in Europe and Australasia.
The country that has the longest working week is Qatar. Qatar’s employees work only five hours more a week than those working in South Africa, and as little as four hours more than those working in Nambia, the hardest working country in the African continent.
The country with the shortest working week is the Netherlands, with residents working only 32 hours a week, over 10 hours less than the working week of half of the countries in the African continent.
The nations with the shortest and longest working weeks differ by 17 hours.
Whilst many of us struggle to leave our work in the workplace, with 43% of office workers admitting to checking work emails at home and almost half staying at the office after hours, RS Components analysis suggests you might still have it better than you thought compared to the rest of the world.
