Average working hours in Europe?

Hi everyone!

I know that in the USA you really have a lot of working hours per week.
I am interested how is it in countries in europe if anyone should know?

thnx

in germany its 42 hours / week per contract, but about 54 is average. by far not as many as in the us but we pay a high price. education is worse

I am from Russia and currently I am on my 2nd grade at the Uni. Here as a student I can get not more than 30 hours per week as a nurse, though I am lucky one to get even this amount. Well, I guess no compares between US, Europe vs Russia

UK: 50 hours but 10+ years to achieve the level of training that you achieve in the US in 5 yrs

France/Belgium: more or less 50 hours, 6 years (2 General surgery!!! + 4 ortho) to finish residency. Surgical education is suboptimal during residency, and in general you should have to kiss the Emperor's (Big Professor's) @ss.. In no way you are independent surgically after the 6 years. Takes years to become surgically competent. Eg. in Belgium, at a big University hospital, at the end of residency, a resident usually has performed "alone" the huge number of 4-5 THR cases!

In the US you work and you learn at the same time, because they want you to learn. In Europe, you work, and, because you work (btw) you learn by chance, not because there is an educational system fit to your needs. That's also why it takes longer (not just because your work hours are less -- they are also of much lower quality).

Bottom line: I'm from Europe, have seen the above systems and I'm glad I'm a resident in the best training system in the world.

We had a guest lecturer from the Netherlands recently who said by contract that his resident were not allowed to work more than 37.5 hours a week. That included clincial responsibilities, lectures, academics, and research time.

Europe regulated by the European Working Time Directive, which limits a working week to 48 hours by law.
The UK trainees are attempting to secure an opt-out clause in the interest of training.
Here in Ireland, EWTD has yet to be introduced but is imminent. Until then, average week ~72 hours for me, but can reach between 110 and 120 hours fairly often depending on your call rota.