How much of your life do you spend working?

A full-time career of 40 years at about 1,700 hours a year comes to roughly 70,000 to 90,000 working hours, around a third of waking adult life. Hours differ a lot by country: in 2024 the average US worker put in about 1,800 hours, a UK worker about 1,500, and a German worker about 1,340.

Source: OECD, Average annual hours actually worked per worker (2024)