Annual Working Hours in South Sudan: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

Labor is more than a metric; it is the physical expenditure of a human life. For the people of South Sudan, the duration of effort is a reflection of the fundamental pursuit of sustenance. These figures capture the quiet, daily reality of energy distributed across the span of a year, marking the boundary between the necessity of work and the possibility of rest. Every hour recorded represents a moment of lived experience within an evolving economic landscape.

For over a century, the rhythm of work remained an immutable baseline. From the 1800s estimate through the 1950s, annual working hours remained steady at 2,200 hours/year. A gradual transformation began in the 1960s with 2,183, slowly descending through the 2,167 of the 1970s, 2,150 in the 1980s, 2,125 in the 1990s, 2,100 in the 2000s, and 2,075 in the 2010s. This steady reduction traces a long-term contraction of labor across two hundred years.

In the 2020s, annual working hours in South Sudan stands at 2,050 hours/year — ranking #126 of 157 countries. This current reality suggests a trajectory toward a different future, with projections reaching 1,850 in the 2100s. Compared to the 2,200 hours/year seen in 1900, the modern worker exists in a period of subtle transition. You are witnessing a slow movement away from the intensity of the past toward a projected reduction in the annual demand for human effort.

Explore the interactive tool on MYRIAD to compute your own parallel lives.