2024-09-05 12:56:29
However, one trend persists – men spend more time in the office, but have more free time than women
In the last 20 years, Bulgarians have not significantly changed their habits in terms of how they allocate their time during the day. There is only one remarkable trend – the Internet has finally defeated watching TV and currently the Bulgarian sits in front of the computer during his free time more than he devotes to watching any TV shows. This shows the comparison between the time budget study published by the NSI on Wednesday and the older editions of this study from 2011 and 2001.
Back in 2001, there were a limited number of sites, youtube didn’t exist yet, nor did today’s social networks, and video download times were so long that it didn’t justify downloading an entire movie.
Therefore, in the study at the time, computer activities during free time did not exist as an option. People who played computer games at the time claimed that they spent an average of 2 hours a week on it.
On the other hand, watching television took an average of about 3 hours per person per day in 2001. For example, men devoted 3 hours and 3 minutes to television, and women – 2 hours and 38 minutes.
In 2011, television was still watched for approximately 3 hours
in a day – men on average 3 hours and 7 minutes, and women – 2 hours and 47 minutes. Leisure time computer activities in 2011 took an average of 1 hour and 36 minutes per day.
Today, however, the picture is turned upside down – Bulgarians watch an average of 1 hour and 50 minutes of television per day. Radio is listened to on average for 47 minutes, but it is something that can be combined with driving and other activities.
On the other hand, hanging in front of the computer during non-working hours is now 2 hours and 42 minutes a day, the new study shows. Today, many people download whole series from the web, shop at online stores, hang out on social networks or watch video files of their choice.
And the people who regularly read books – about 7.7%, devote to this activity approximately as much as to television – an average of 1 hour and 44 minutes per day. However, watching television is much more widespread – 83.7% of Bulgarians do it. But 10 years ago, 91.9% did so, and in 2001 – almost 100 percent. However, readers are also decreasing – 10 years ago they were 8.4%.
In terms of work, the changes are not so drastic, they are even minimal. The oldest research shows that Bulgarians who worked spent an average of 7 hours and 52 minutes on it. 10 years later, the time for this has decreased slightly – to 7 hours and 19 minutes.
Today, people are immersed in their main work for 8 hours and 1 minute per day on average, or it turns out that in 20 years their working time has risen by only 9 minutes.
The home office, which boomed during the pandemic but is now waning, has had some impact on the time it takes us to get to work.
In 2001, people traveled to and from work for an average of 59 minutes per day. In 2011, this time increased to 1 hour and 24 minutes, and today it has decreased to 1 hour and 7 minutes. This is certainly due to people continuing to work from their homes, however downsized. But at the same time, the research of the Institute for Market Economy on the economic centers in Bulgaria showed that in more and more places in the country, centers are being formed that draw labor from the neighboring municipalities. And these people certainly spend more time commuting to and from work.
Roughly speaking, the Bulgarian currently spends no more than a total of 9 and a half hours for work together with travel. The remaining 14 and a half hours of the day are for free time, but how it is distributed depends greatly on a person’s gender, whether he lives in a city or a village, whether he studies or works, what hobbies he has and whether he is married or no.
For example
for free time and social life, the Bulgarian spends now
4 hours and 4 minutes daily. But men spend an average of 59 minutes more per day than women at work and at the same time have 45 minutes more for leisure and social life. This comes at the expense of the time spent on household and home care and some other activities, which is slightly more for women.
In this regard, nothing has changed for the last 20 years, the differences are even deepening. In 2001, men had twenty minutes more free time than women, although even then they spent more time at work than women.
The amount of time spent sleeping has been almost constant for the past 20 years. It now averages 9 hours and 17 minutes, compared to 9 hours and 14 minutes in 2001. However, this is only on weekdays – on weekends, sleep lasts 1 hour longer and meal time increases by 31 minutes.
The time spent sleeping also depends on the place of residence –
in the city you sleep 23 minutes more than in the countryside
But according to the latest research, married men sleep and eat a total of 7 minutes longer than single men. In contrast, married women slept an average of 9 minutes less than those who were not married, and spent an average of 5 minutes less than them on personal care.