Cyprus ranks second in EU for longest working weeks

Cyprus recorded one of the highest proportions of employees working long hours in the European Union during the second quarter of 2025, according to figures from Eurostat.

The figures reveal that 16.6 per cent of employed Cypriots aged 20 to 64 worked more than 45 hours per week in their main and second jobs combined.

This places Cyprus second only to Greece, which topped the list at 20.9 per cent, while Malta followed with 14.6 per cent.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest proportions of long-hour workers were found in Bulgaria, Latvia, and Romania, where the rates stood at 2.5 per cent, 4.1 per cent, and 5.9 per cent respectively.

Across the EU as a whole, 10.8 per cent of employed people worked more than 45 hours a week, highlighting a wide gap between southern and eastern European labour markets in terms of working culture and employment patterns.

The data also show that the most common working schedule across the EU was between 20 and 44 hours per week, accounting for 72.3 per cent of all employed individuals.

In this mid-range category, Bulgaria led with 92.8 per cent of employees, followed by Romania at 90.6 per cent and Latvia at 86.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, part-time work, defined as up to 19 hours per week, accounted for 16.9 per cent of employment at EU level.

This form of flexible work was most prevalent in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Austria, where around a quarter of employees worked fewer than 19 hours a week.

By contrast, part-time work was least common in Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece, where under 7 per cent of workers were employed for fewer than 19 hours per week.