Sleep Around the World: France Ranks First, U.S. Second

A new OECD report compares 2006 time use surveys from 18 countries. Results show that people in France report getting the most sleep at about 8.8 hours per day.

The U.S. ranks second, just 12 minutes behind at about 8.6 hours of sleep per day. People in Korea and Japan get the least sleep at about 7.8 hours per day.

Why do the French get more sleep than Americans? One reason may be that they work less.

The report indicates that Americans work an average of 41.3 hours per week. People in France work an average of 37.3 hours per week.

A 2007 study in the journal Sleep analyzed data from previous American Time Use Surveys. Results suggest that work time is the strongest indicator of sleep time.

Tomorrow we’ll take a closer look at the survey data. We’ll see what it does and doesn’t tell us about the sleep of people in the U.S.

Image by Mirko Garufi