Why US workers are so sleep deprived — and 10 countries getting rest right

Nothing has the potential to derail a productive work day like a lack of sleep. And around the world, some employees are getting ample z's while others are struggling to catch up on their sleep debt.

According to data from business insights blog Gitnux, employees who reported getting 8 hours of sleep or more experienced the lowest amount of productivity loss. Sleeping fewer than five hours, however, can decrease an employee's productivity by 29%. Telehealth platform Plushcare analyzed the sleep ratios from different countries to find where employees were getting the best rest. 

Read more: How better sleep can impact your brain function

For each country, Plushcare determined the ratio of annual sleep hours to annual working hours,  based on the average hours of sleep and work in each country. European countries dominated: Denmark came in first with the best sleep ratio, with the average employee sleeping more than twice as much as they work, which is on average just 26 hours per week. The Netherlands and Germany were close behind with similar scores. 

In comparison, Mexico has the worst work to sleep ratio, with just 61.41% of Mexicans get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. The U.S. ranked at 22, highlighting the fact that 44% of American workers consistently lose sleep over work-related issues, according to a survey from CareerBuilder. In the U.S., most workers get just 6.4 hours per night, and put in a 36.4 hour workweek, according to data from scheduling platform Clockify. 

Below is Plushcare's list of countries where the residents are actively getting their recommended hours of sleep: