Survey on the use of time. 2024

The average day for the Catalan population aged 10 and over was broken down as follows: 11 h 35 min spent on personal care (including sleeping, personal hygiene and meals); 2 h 39 min on looking after the home and family members; 2 h 28 min on employment; 2 h 21 min on consuming media; 1 h 23 min on social life and entertainment; 41 min on practicing sports and outdoor activities; and 42 min on education and training. These averages have been calculated based on the entire population aged 10 and over regardless of whether or not they engaged in the activities specified.

In terms of participation in and average length of daily activities, 38.5% of men and 29.8% of women aged 10 and over said that they spent time on paid work for an average of 7 h 34 min for men and 6 h 53 min for women. In contrast, women were more involved in household and family tasks (90.9%, spending 3 h 37 min) compared to men who were less involved (83.2%, spending 2 h 24 min). Compared to the last edition of the survey from the period 2010–2011, the differences in time allocated to this activity have decreased in both the percentages for men and women and also the average daily time spent.

As for daily activity schedules, the survey measures the percentage of the population that performs the same activity at the beginning of each of the twenty-four hours of an average day. There were clear differences between self-employed workers and employees. Firstly, employees started working or studying slightly earlier than the self-employed: 22% of self-employed workers started at 8 am while this figure is higher for employees (between 25.9% in the private sector and 27.9% in the public sector). In contrast, employees finished this activity slightly earlier than the self-employed: 38.7% of the self-employed finished at 6 pm while this figure was lower for employees (between 20.0% in the public sector and 22.3% in the private sector).

This edition of the Survey on the Use of Time includes for the first time insights into who plans household tasks and childcare in addition to information on who actually performs these tasks: 60.0% of women said they planned lunches and dinners on weekdays, 53.9% planned daily shopping and 61.6% planned thorough cleaning of the home. These figures are more than double the percentage of men who said they planned these tasks (23.7%, 25.8% and 20.9% respectively).

Another new feature in this edition includes for the first time the breakdown of time spent by the population on social and sport activities. The former shows that 17.4% of the Catalan population aged 10 and over used social media and spent an average of 71 min a day on them while 14.6% of the population spent an average of 36 min a day communicating via instant messaging. By age, the time spent on social media and instant messaging was higher among young people aged 10 to 24 (87 min and 44 min per day on average, respectively).

In terms of sport activities, 24.5% of the population aged 10 and over spent 1 h 41 min a day on average walking, strolling or hiking and one in ten people said they spent 75 min a day on gymnastic and fitness activities. A further 3.2% of the population played ball games, spending 1 h 48 min a day on them. Meanwhile, 1.4% reported spending an average of 80 min a day jogging and another 1.4% said they took part in water sports for 95 min a day.