Statistics in Focus: Population and social conditions. How women and men spend their time Results from 13 European countries.

Abstract

Women and men have similar patterns of spending their time across Europe but there are also some remarkable differences between the countries investigated. The total time spent on gainful work/study and domestic work (definition of activities, see methodological notes) varies between 6 and 7 hours per day when taking an average over the whole year - all weekends and holidays included, see figures 1-3. The time is highest in Slovenia and Hungary and lowest in Belgium and Finland. Daily commuting and travel time is around 1 hour, somewhat more in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Belgium and somewhat less in France and Hungary. Free time is time devoted to television-video or to other media, leisure time (sports, hobbies, resting and unspecified leisure) and socializing time (participatory activities, social life, entertainment and culture). These activities occupy 41/4 to 6/4 hours per day, more in Norway and Finland and less in France and Hungary. Volunteer work and informal help to other households is classified with free time in the figures