People in the Netherlands have longest working lives in Europe, study finds
By Simone Jacobs
The newest figures from Eurostat have revealed that people living in the Netherlands have the longest working lives in the European Union. The average Dutch resident will work for 43,8 years of their life - over six years more than the European average.
Average Dutch resident has working life of 43,8 years
People working in the Netherlands will have a career lasting an average of 43,8 years, the longest in Europe. Men are likely to work 45,7 years, while women have a slightly shorter working life at 41,8 years.
The average duration of working life in the EU is 37,2 years, which makes the Dutch average six years longer. This may come as a surprise, as the Netherlands is known for having more residents working part time than any other country in Europe. However, it also has the highest net labour participation rate, pushing the average up. The AOW age, or state pension age, in the Netherlands is 67 years.
EU working lives getting longer
In 2015, the average working life of a resident in the EU was 34,9 years. Since then, there has been a steady increase, culminating in the current figures. This reflects ageing populations and longer healthy lifespans of European citizens.
Only six countries have expected working life durations of over 40 years and they also happen to be the countries with the longest careers, namely the Netherlands, Sweden (43 years), Denmark (42,5 years), Estonia (41,4 years) and Ireland (40,4 years). On the other side of the coin, the shortest working lives in Europe are measured in Romania (32,7 years), Italy (32,8 years), as well as Croatia, Greece and Bulgaria (each at 34,8 years).
The gender gap has also narrowed as more women participate in the labour market, from a difference of 5,1 years in 2015 to 4,2 years in 2024. The countries with the largest gender gap are Italy (9 years), Greece (7,1 years) and Malta (6,9 years).
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Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training. Read more