Colombia is the country that gets up the earliest in the world, but not the most productive

According to a ranking published by World Statistics, Colombia is the country in the world where people get up early the most, with the 6:31 am the average time that citizens get up.

This is not necessarily a positive indicator for the country, because despite the fact that Colombians get up earlier than anywhere in the world, It is also the least productive country per working hour and one with the longest working hours in the world.according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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“God helps those who get up early” may be the phrase that motivates Colombians to get out of bed every day, and it is that on average the country wakes up at 6:31 in the morning to start the day, while countries like Mexico or Japan get up half an hour later.

Despite this, waking up early is not an indicator of good news for the country. According to experts, this seems to indicate that more work time and more working hours do not necessarily mean better productivity.

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Proof of this are the OECD figures, which position the country as one of the most unproductive in the world. Colombia only contributes $19.50 to the local economy for every hour worked, according to the organization’s productivity report.

Added to this, Colombia is one of the countries that works the longest hours in the world. With an average of 48 weekly hours or 9.6 daily hours, the country is positioned along with Mexico as one of those that spend more of the day working.

Among the other most unproductive countries globally are South Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Poland.

“What these data reflect on the very low labor productivity in Colombia has to do, fundamentally, with the gaps in education and training for work in Colombia”, explained Sebastián Trujillo, analyst of global indicators for the OECD.

One of the main reasons that many people get up early in Colombia is the traffic. According to the mobility research firm Inrix and its annual Global Traffic Scorecard study, Bogotá is the sixth city in the world with the highest vehicle traffic.

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Regarding the list of the earliest countriesthe second place is occupied by Indonesia, whose inhabitants get out of bed at 6:55 a.m. Next, there is Japan and Mexico, which share the same wake-up time: 7:09 a.m.

On the other hand, in the last positions of the ranking are Greece and Saudi Arabia, whose average hours are 8:25 and 8:27 in the morning, respectively.

Another previous study had indicated that, among the 60 countries that go to bed earlier, Colombia also appears among the first five placesas reported by Forbes Colombia.

Santiago Andres Venera Salazar
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
With information from El Comercio (PERU) / GDA