The Netherlands consistently ranks as the country that sleeps the most, with residents averaging around 8 hours and 5 minutes per night, followed closely by New Zealand, Australia, and France, though rankings can shift slightly between studies. These nations often have cultures that support earlier bedtimes and better work-life balance, contributing to longer, more consistent sleep.
According to WHOOP's data, Aussies are going to bed at 10:45pm on average each night, making us the earliest sleepers globally. On average, we're waking up around 6:44am, which equals a solid eight hours of sleep.
Key Findings
The koala is famous for sleeping around 20-22 hours a day, which is about 90% of the day, due to their low-energy diet of eucalyptus leaves that requires extensive digestion. Other extremely sleepy animals include the sloth (up to 20 hours) and the brown bat (around 20 hours), with some snakes like the ball python also sleeping up to 23 hours daily.
New Zealand🇳🇿 is the world's sleepiest nation - getting an average of 7 hours and 27 minutes each night. Meanwhile, people in Japan🇯🇵 get the least rest — just 5 hours and 52 minutes per night, on average.
1. Netherlands. The Netherlands ranks at or near the top of global sleep studies, with residents averaging just over eight hours per night. Work schedules tend to end earlier than in many industrialized nations, which supports consistent bedtimes on both weekdays and weekends.
Musk goes to bed around 3 a.m. and gets about 6 hours of sleep every night. Although he's not getting eight hours a night, Musk has upped his sleeping schedule from being nearly nonexistent in the past. In May 2023, Musk told CNBC that he's no longer pulling all-nighters.
🐌 Did You Know this amazing animal fact? A snail can sleep for up to 3 years! Yes, some snails can hibernate or go into deep sleep to survive harsh weather.
They found that, relative to non-Hispanic White Americans, Blacks/African Americans were 41% more likely to be short sleepers (6 or fewer hours); similarly, non-Mexican Hispanic adults were 26% more likely to be short sleepers, and those in the “other” category were 35% more likely to be short sleepers.
The City That Never Sleeps is a ubiquitously used nickname and advertising slogan for New York City. Photographer Jacob Riis describes The Bowery as never sleeping in his 1898 book Out of Mulberry Street: Stories of Tenement Life in New York City.
However, there is always a safety risk to co-sleeping (sharing the same bed or sleep surface) if your little one is younger than 12-months-old. For examples, in predominantly Asian countries and regions, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and Japan, the majority of people co-sleep.
The 3-2-1 bedtime method is a simple sleep hygiene strategy: stop eating 3 hours before bed, stop working 2 hours before bed, and stop using screens (phones, tablets, TVs) 1 hour before sleep, helping your body transition to rest by reducing stimulants and digestive load for better sleep quality. A more detailed version adds 10 hours (no caffeine) and 0 (no snoozing) for a 10-3-2-1-0 rule.
Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. It has a highly developed economy and one of the highest per capita incomes globally. Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy.
Australia's top three causes of death consistently include Dementia (including Alzheimer's disease), Ischaemic Heart Disease, and Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases (like COPD), though their exact ranking can shift, with dementia often leading for women and heart disease for men, but the overall gap narrowing significantly, according to recent ABS data.
In January 1964, American student Randy Gardner sits on a bed next to various household objects he will later have to identify by memory as part of a sleep deprivation experiment in San Diego, Calif. Gardner set the world record during the experiment, staying awake for over 264 hours.
noun. (in a story by Washington Irving) a ne'er-do-well who sleeps 20 years and upon waking is startled to find how much the world has changed. (italics) the story itself, published in The Sketch Book (1819).
"Sleeping Beauty" (French: La Belle au bois dormant, or The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood; German: Dornröschen, or Little Briar Rose), also titled in English as The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, is a French fairy tale about a princess cursed by an evil fairy to sleep for a hundred years before being awakened by a ...
Koalas are thickset arboreal marsupials with a thick grey fur. Found only living in Australia, they mainly live in the eucalyptus trees and spend around 22 hours of their time sleeping (90%).
Alpine swifts are one of the most extreme examples when asking what animal never sleeps. These airborne endurance champions spend up to 200 days in flight without landing. Instead of traditional sleep, they rely on micro-sleeps while gliding. This allows them to rest without stopping.
Additionally, jerboas have large ears to help them detect the slightest sound, which could be an approaching predator. They get their water from the plants and insects they eat, going their entire three-year lifetime without drinking liquid water.
Thomas Edison, inventor and father of the light bulb is said to have slept as little as four hours a night, compensating with frequent catnaps throughout the day.
With sleep and success, there's no magic number
For example, some billionaire entrepreneur philanthropists like Richard Branson and Bill Gates begin and end the day with a heavy and light workout, respectively. They require over 7 hours of uninterrupted shut-eye before beginning the day anew.