According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) the citizens of Mexico and Costa Rica are the ones that work the longest hours.

The OECD ran the statistics through its 38 member countries, from North and South America to Europe and Asia-Pacific. The study determines the average hours worked per year by taking the total number of hours worked per year and dividing it by the average number of people in employment per year; actual hours worked include regular work hours of full-time, part-time and part-year workers, paid and unpaid overtime, hours worked in additional jobs, and exclude time not worked because of holidays, or other reasons according to their website.

The last data provided by the OECD is from 2015 and it shows that the average Mexican works 2,246 hours a year or 43.2 hours a week. Costa Rica comes in second place with 2,230 hours a year, 42.88 hours a week, South Korea ranks third with 2,113 hours a year, Greece comes in fourth position with 2,042 and the top five of hardest working countries is completed by Chile with 1,988 hours a year.

Another interesting aspect is that the average of hours worked per year has slightly decreased in the past 15 years; for instance Mexico averaged 2,311 hours a year in the year 2000; while Costa Ricans were working 2,315 hours a year in 2010 and lowered that number by almost 100 hours.

The OECD received data from the different statistics institutions in each country and they list their sources and methodology, for example, In the case of Costa Rica, the data was provided by INEC based on Encuesta Continua de Empleo (ECE) actual hours estimates multiplied by 52 weeks

The United States is in position 16 with a total of 1,790 hours a year , Canadians are in the 23rd slot working 1,706 hours.

Probably the most interesting fact in that Germany, usually regarded because of its efficiency ranks a the bottom of the table, with only 1,371 hours a year, 26.37 hours a week, reinforcing the idea that working more doesn’t necessarily mean working better or more efficiently.

This study also helps raise awareness on work-life balance.