French spend most time eating and sleeping

Paris — The French spend more time sleeping and eating than their counterparts in economically developed countries but Norwegians get top prize for time spent on leisure, a new study by the OECD said.

The Japanese sleep nearly an hour less every night than the French and also spend more time at work and commuting than indulging in fun, according to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development survey.

The French also live up to their reputation for long lunches: They devote nearly double the time to meals than do Americans, Britons or Mexicans.

On average, the French get 8.8 hours of sleep each night, enjoying more rest than Americans and Spaniards and a full hour more than South Koreans who rank last on the list with 7.8 hours of sleep.

When it comes to leisure, Norwegians lead the pack, devoting nearly a quarter of their time to enjoyable activities while Mexicans, at the bottom of the list, spend only 16 percent of their time unwinding.

Norway also embraces gender equality when it comes to leisure, with women and men both devoting about the same amount of time, contrary to Italy, for instance, where men have more than an hour more leisure than women.

Turkey however ranks as the most sociable nation. Turks spend 35 percent of their leisure time with friends, more than triple the average of 11 percent.

Watching TV absorbs more than half of all leisure time in Japan, but only a quarter in New Zealand.

The Spaniards are the most physically active, with sports accounting for 13 percent of their leisure time, the highest in the OECD survey.

The report released Monday by the Paris-based OECD was compiled with survey data from 18 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

AFP/Expatica