Charted: Working Hours Needed to Exit Poverty in OECD Countries

Niccolo Conte
2025-06-15 08:11:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Charted: Working Hours Needed to Exit Poverty in OECD Countries

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In any given country, real wages, employment conditions, and economic opportunity often influence how easily people can overcome poverty.

Hence, rising above the poverty line requires a lot more work in some nations than in others, even between OECD countries.

This infographic uses data from the OECD to shows the weekly working hours a single person (with no children) needs to work to rise above the poverty line in 35 OECD countries, assuming they earn 67% of the national average wage.

How Much Work Does It Take to Escape Poverty?

The poverty line is calculated as 50% of the country’s median disposable income. On average across OECD countries, a single individual with below-average income needs to work 21 hours per week to cross the poverty threshold.

However, there are stark differences between the countries at the higher and lower ends of the spectrum, as shown in the table below:

Country	Weekly Working Hours to Exit Poverty
Slovenia	35
Czechia	28
New Zealand	27
United States	26
Denmark	26
Poland	25
Estonia	25
Latvia	25
Sweden	24
Luxembourg	24
Slovak Republic	24
Norway	24
Spain	22
South Korea	22
Switzerland	22
Portugal	22
OECD average	21
Germany	21
Canada	21
Austria	21
Iceland	21
Hungary	21
Australia	21
Lithuania	19
Italy	19
Finland	19
Israel	18
France	18
Netherlands	18
Ireland	18
Japan	16
Greece	16
Belgium	16
United Kingdom	14
Türkiye	9

Slovenia stands out, requiring 35 weekly working hours—nearly the equivalent of a full-time job—just to move past the poverty line. Close behind are Czechia, New Zealand, the United States, and Denmark, each requiring between 26 and 28 hours per week to exit poverty.

Several developed nations are clustered around the OECD average of 21 hours, including Australia, Canada, South Korea, and European countries like Germany and Portugal.

Meanwhile, many countries require less than a typical part-time job’s worth of work (20 hours per week) to lift a low-income worker above poverty.

Türkiye notably requires just 9 weekly working hours to rise above the poverty line. This indicates that the country’s median disposable income is relatively low, with a few hours per week enough to cross the poverty line at lower-than-average wages.

Other countries requiring low working hours to exit poverty include the United Kingdom at 14 weekly hours, followed by Belgium, Greece, and Japan at 16 hours each.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this infographic on Home Affordability in OECD Countries on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

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