Hard day's slog: 15% of Maltese work more than 45 hours a week

Malta had one of the highest rates of long working hours in the European Union (EU) in the second quarter of 2025, with 14.6% of employed people working more than 45 hours per week, according to the latest Eurostat data.

In the second quarter of 2025, 14.6% of employed people in Malta worked more than 45 hours per week, one of the highest shares in the EU, according to the latest data published by Eurostat.

Malta registered the third-highest share of employees working more than 45 hours a week, after Greece (20.9%) and Cyprus (16.6%).

Across the EU, 10.8% of employed people aged 20–64 exceeded 45 hours per week when combining their main and secondary jobs. The figures reveal striking disparities between Member States.

Bulgaria (2.5%), Latvia (4.1%), Romania (5.9%) and Hungary (7%) recorded the lowest shares of employees working long hours.

Other countries with a lower percentage than Malta’s include Germany (8.7%), Slovakia (9.1%), Lithuania and Estonia (9.3%), Spain (9.7%), the Netherlands (10%) and Slovenia (10.1%), Finland (11%), Italy (11.4%), Austria (11.6%), Sweden (12.4%), Belgium (12.4%), France (13.5%), Ireland (14%) and Portugal (14.2%).

The majority of EU employees, 72.3%, worked between 20 and 44 hours weekly. This category was most common in Bulgaria (92.8%), Romania (90.6%) and Latvia (86.9%), where standard working hours dominate. In Malta, however, the proportion of workers in this mid-range category is below 80%, reflecting the prevalence of longer working weeks.

Meanwhile, 16.9% of employed individuals across the EU worked up to 19 hours per week. Malta recorded one of the fifth-lowest percentages of people working under 19 hours (nearly 8%).

This part-time segment was particularly pronounced in the Netherlands (26.8%), Denmark (25.5%) and Austria (25.3%). Countries with fewer part-time workers included Romania (3.5%), Bulgaria (4.6%) and Greece (6.1%).

Eurostat clarifies that the statistics cover actual hours worked for both main and secondary jobs, including paid and unpaid extra hours. Commuting time, meal breaks and periods of absence, such as holidays or sick leave, are excluded. The data are seasonally adjusted and based on the EU Labour Force Survey, providing a comprehensive snapshot of working patterns across the bloc.

According to Eurostat statistics issued in May, the average Maltese employee worked 37.5 hours a week on their main job in 2024. Regarding hours spent on a main job, the longest working week was recorded in Greece (39.8 hours). By contrast, the Dutch reported the shortest working week (32.1 hours), followed by Denmark, Germany and Austria (each 33.9 hours).