The European Countries with the Highest Risk of Burnout

With only 1% of British employees saying they have never experienced work-related stress, it has become more important than ever to talk about burnout and mental health in the workplace.

We have analysed 26 European countries to reveal which are experiencing burnout the most.

Above highlights the top European countries experiencing burnout, with Portugal ranking number one. They are followed by Greece and Latvia, with the UK ranking 14th on the list.

Out of the top countries most at risk of burnout, Portugal has one of the longest working weeks (39.5) and lowest salaries €22,373.

On the other end of the scale, Denmark ranks as the number one location least at risk of burnout with some of the happiest citizens and shortest work weeks.

The Netherlands ranks as the best country for work-life balance with an average of 29.3 hours worked in a week. The UK, on the other hand, ranks in the bottom five for work-life balance, due to the high number of working hours (36.6) in comparison.

Several countries around the world have started implementing new measures to ensure employees’ mental health is taken into consideration in the workplace. For example – some of the Nordic countries introduced a four-day working week.

With France, Luxembourg, and Sweden at the top of the list, this last datacard shows the countries with the highest risk of developing poor mental health at work.

The European Countries With The Highest Risk of Burnout

Country	OECD Work-Life Balance	World Happiness Index	Average Salary (EUR)	Weekly Working Hours	% Reporting Risk Factors Affecting Mental Well-Being at Work
Denmark	9	7.6	€ 48,006.00	32.35	16.7
Netherlands	9.5	7.488	€ 47,503.68	29.3	36.7
Norway	8.5	7.554	€ 45,382.68	33.81	17.8
Germany	8.4	6.985	€ 45,055.92	34.34	16.8
Switzerland	8.4	7.48	€ 55,916.28	34.39	41.5
Ireland	7.9	7.021	€ 42,411.60	35.23	23.5
Belgium	8.4	6.923	€ 46,695.60	35.56	33.6
Finland	8	7.769	€ 38,386.32	36.35	41.5
Italy	9.4	6.223	€ 32,918.76	35.72	27.1
Sweden	8.4	7.343	€ 39,223.80	35.96	44.2
Luxembourg	8	7.09	€ 57,692.04	37.36	53.6
Austria	6.8	7.246	€ 45,278.52	35.57	40.8
United Kingdom	6.4	7.054	€ 39,669.84	36.55	23.1
Spain	8.8	6.354	€ 32,556.72	36.52	26.6
Iceland	5.1	7.494	€ 57,125.04	38.76	37.6
Lithuania	8.6	6.149	€ 24,287.76	38.66	17.4
Czech Republic	7.6	6.852	€ 24,596.04	39.95	19.6
France	8.7	6.592	€ 39,044.04	36.2	60.5
Estonia	7.9	5.893	€ 25,449.48	38.22	22.6
Slovenia	7.4	6.118	€ 33,784.80	38.96	32
Poland	6.8	6.182	€ 26,854.80	39.75	18
Slovak Republic	7.9	6.198	€ 21,379.68	39.11	26.8
Hungary	8	5.758	€ 22,027.32	39.57	20.3
Latvia	6.9	5.94	€ 23,901.36	39.11	23.9
Greece	7.1	5.287	€ 23,065.56	38.77	30.9
Portugal	7	5.693	€ 22,372.56	39.45	38.6

Methodology & Sources

Salary converted to EUR as of 05/11/20 at a rate of 0.84.

Countries used refer to OECD countries within Europe where full data was available for all metrics.

• http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/work-life-balance/
• https://countryeconomy.com/demography/world-happiness-index
• https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/average-wages.htm
• https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm
• https://clockify.me/working-hours
• https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=hsw_exp1&lang=en