Over the past few years the world has been thrown into a state of uncertainty as we have battled coronavirus. But which countries had the highest absence rate from work due to sickness during this time?

New research by UK-based Small Business Prices reveals that Israeli workers took fewer sick days than did workers in any of the other 27 countries studied.

Israeli citizens took an average of 3.9 days off per year due to illness. Germany, the country with the highest work absence rate according to the research, take 18.3 sick days per year.

The United Kingdom is second only to Israel, with 4.4 sick days per worker annually.

The report’s authors opine that Israel’s achievement may be attributable to the strong Israeli work ethic but add that there could be a less positive reason.

“The average salary in Israel is also typically lower than that of Europe and North America and the cost of living is higher than many other countries. Although the government covers sick leave, employees do not get 100% of their wage. All these factors could affect work absence as Israelis may not be able to afford missing work.”

They conclude: “There are many factors that affect absence rates from work due to sickness, however there has been an overall decrease in sickness leave since the pandemic started in 2020 where working from home became the norm. As the world continues to fluctuate between working environments we expect these statistics to continue to change.”

You can view the full report here.