With the exception of a few countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, where the rates of workplace absence are low and have remained stable for 15 years, most European countries are seeing an increase in the number of sick days taken. The latest OECD data on absence from work due to illness places Spain and Portugal at the top of the list, with a 2.3 percentage point increase in the number of sick days between 2010 and 2024. Spain also has the highest number of sick days in the European Union, at 4.9 weeks per person per year in 2024. According to the same ranking, France is in fifth place, tied with Portugal (4.1 weeks per person per year), just behind Slovenia (4.7).
Difficult international comparisons
Franca Salis Madinier, national secretary of CFDT Cadres, a French trade union for managerial staff, and former vice-president of the country’s Economic, Social and Environmental Council, points out that the data, definitions and calculation methods differ from one country to another, however. Though she believes that this makes “comparison impossible”, she confirms that the “upward trend is nevertheless a reality in all European countries”. According to France’s Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES), the amount of sick leave benefits paid in the EU rose from an average of €860 per person in employment per year in 2013 to €1,070 a decade later and now corresponds to more than 8% of the average GDP of the 27 member states. Luxembourg ranked highest in 2024, with a cost of around €3,500 per person in employment per year, followed by the Netherlands (€2,300) and Germany (nearly €2,000).
