You might ask yourself "Why would I ever think about moving somewhere else? Murica is awesome!" and you would be right. America or "Murica" (depending on your preference) is awesome. But there is one thing we seem to slip on and that's work-life balance.
We are a nation of hustlers and ambition and many Americans find themselves working multiple jobs with little work-life balance. As a matter of fact, the average American has 2 Weeks of vacation time and statistics show they rarely ever use all of their vacation time.
So it made me curious, which 5 countries have the BEST work-life balance in Europe? Here is a list of my findings.
#5 France
After spending some time recently in France, I can tell you personally that the people of France love two things...wine and relaxation. So it's no surprise that France comes in at #5 in the list of countries with the best work-life balance. Not only do they get an average of 9+ hours a day dedicated to life and leisure, but they also passed a law that allows them to disconnect from their jobs after work.
How great would that be?
#4 Finland
Oh Finland, of course they would make the list with their 2 hour lunch breaks. Yes, two hours! Imagine that? You could eat lunch, take a nap, hit the gym and still make it back to work to finish the day.
#3 Netherlands
How many hours do you work a week? 40 hours right? Well guess what the Netherland's average work week is....go on guess. It's 30 hours. Think about how much more life you could get if you only worked 30 hours a week (basically a 4 day work week). Beyond that they have 20+ annual vacation days and extremely generous parental leaves.
#2 Sweden
Think about having a family or have a family? Sweden has 16 months of paid family leave and 14 paid additional banked holidays. Let that sink in for a moment as you think about that 2 weeks - 4 weeks parental paid leave you have here in America. Yes, you could say I am quite jealous of Sweden.
#1 Denmark!
Coming in at number 1 on our list of Best European Countries with Work-Life Balance is none other than Denmark. Why is Denmark considered the best for work-life balance? Maybe because they allow for up to 23 weeks of parental leave and an average work day of 6.3 hours. Not to mention a whole slew of other amazing benefits.