Nigerian workers have been ranked second in the world after Mexico in the global most hardworking workers with an average of 2,124 hours per worker annually.
According to a report published by the World of Statistics on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, the most populous nation in Africa has more hardworking force than world economic power countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and others.
Also, with the report, Nigeria automatically emerged as the most hardworking country in Africa.
The report revealed that Mexican workers who topped the chart were only four hours higher than Nigerians annually with 2,128.
In Nigeria, the official hours of work for most public and private workers are eight hours which could be 8 to 4 or 9 to 5 from Monday to Friday.
Meanwhile, some organisations like media houses, hospitals, security agencies and manufacturing industries require more days and hours of their workers, as Saturdays or Sundays could be a shift arrangement.
In an informal setting, workers like market women and other traders work up to ten hours per day.
While the report was silent on the type of work undertaken, it appeared that the countries in the top five were not tech-oriented.
Three countries from Central and South America followed Nigeria as Costa Rica placed third with 2,073 hours, followed by Colombia (1,964) in fourth position and Chile fifth with 1,916.
High-tech South Korea is a surprise entry at number six with their workers putting in an average of 1,910 hours yearly, and Malta, 1,882; Russia recorded 1,874 hours; Greece (1,872) and Romania registered 1,838.
Workers in the world’s largest economy, the United States, put in an average of 1,791 hours to place them in the 13th spot while the world’s third-largest economy, Japan is a distant 30th with their workers putting in 1,607 hours annually.
Germany, Europe’s dominant economy, is in 50th place with its employees working for an average of 1,349 hours annually.
South African workers are the second on the Dark Continent with annual 1,513 hours placing them a distant 36th on the listing.
With Nigerians working 2,124 hours annually, it means an average worker uses at least five hours to engage in productive activities as compared to South African counterparts that work for four hours.
The World of Statistics— the successor to the highly successful International Year of Statistics (Statistics 2013) campaign celebrated in 2013—is a global network of nearly 2,360 organisations worldwide.
It is committed to increasing public awareness of the power and impact of statistics on all aspects of society, nurturing statistics as a profession, especially among young people as well as promoting creativity and development in the sciences of probability and statistics.
