Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok have emerged as the top three cities with the most overworked populations in the world, Kisi’s Global Work-Life Balance Index 2021 has shown.
According to the data, published on 27 May 2021, ‘overworked populations’ referred to full-time employees who work more than 48 hours in each working week, over the International Labour Organisation’s recommendation of 40-hour workweeks.
Among the overworked cities – other Asian cities in the top 10 included Seoul in fifth spot, and Kuala Lumpur in eighth spot.
Overall, the top 10 most overworked cities identified in the research were:
- Hong Kong (29.9%)
- Singapore (25.1%)
- Bangkok, Thailand (20.2%)
- Buenos Aires, Argentina (19.9%)
- Seoul, South Korea (19.5%)
- Tokyo, Japan (18.3%)
- Houston, Texas, US (16.6%)
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (16%)
- Calgary, Alberta, Canada (15.5%)
- London, United Kingdom (15.4%)
The top 10 cities with the best work-life balance score were listed as:
- Helsinki, Finland (score: 100)
- Oslo, Norway (98.6)
- Zurich, Switzerland (91.5)
- Stockholm, Sweden (91.4)
- Copenhagen, Denmark (90.4)
- Ottawa, Canada (89.1)
- Munich, Germany (89.1)
- Vancouver, Canada (87.8)
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (87.6)
- Sydney, Australia (86.8)
Singapore ranked #18 with a score of 83.8, while Hong Kong ranked #45 (score: 62); Bangkok, Thailand ranked #49 (score: 51.3) and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ranked #50 with a score of 50.
On a whole, the Global Work-Life Balance Index took into consideration four key pillars, each with its own factors:
- Work Intensity
- Society and Institutions
- City Livability
- COVID-19
The cities involved were ranked based on their overall scores out of 100, with 100 being the highest possible score, and 50 being the lowest.
Full rankings can be found here.
