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Study: French tops in eating, drinking

  • Story Highlights
  • Average Japanese spends longer at work and getting to work than on leisure
  • South Korea and Japan have the lowest obesity rates
  • Survey looks at 18 countries among OECD's 30 members to gauge use of time
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(CNN) -- The French spend more time eating and drinking than anyone else among the world's wealthy nations, a new study reveals.

The study, by the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), found that the average French person spends nine hours sleeping every night, and spends two hours a day eating.

On the other end of the spectrum, the average Japanese gets seven hours of sleep and also spends longer at work -- and getting to work -- than on leisure activities.

And when it comes to food, Mexicans spend the least time: just over an hour a day.

The survey looked at 18 countries among the organization's 30 members to see how people use "that most fundamental of resources:" time. The results were released Monday.

Among the organization's findings:

  • Italian men spend nearly 80 minutes more a day on leisure than Italian women. Why? Because in most cases, the women are spending much of that time cleaning the house.
  • Turkey is the most sociable nation, spending 35 percent of leisure time entertaining friends. On the other hand, Mexico and Japan spend half their leisure time watching television.
  • Norwegians spend a quarter of their time pursuing leisure activities; Mexico spends the least at just 16 percent
  • Finally, Americans spend about 8.5 hours a day sleeping, and nearly an hour eating and drinking. And yet, U.S. obesity rates are the highest, with 34 percent of the population with a Body Mass Index (BMI) over the critical 30 mark.
  • The lowest obesity rates? South Korea and Japan with less than 4 percent of the population exceeding a BMI of more than 30.

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