"The odds of a person being absent from work increase by 57 percent while the men's football championship is in progress," says Lena Johansson, a statistician at Statistics Sweden, in a press statement.
Statistics Sweden has compared the years 2005–2025 and analysed absence during nine championships, four world championships and five European championships in men's football. The analysis includes people between the ages of 16 and 64 who are permanently employed.
The figures show that the probability of short-term absence from work is 27 percent during the summer weeks when there is a championship, compared to 19 percent when there is no championship.
Statistics Sweden's analysis shows that if the odds for short-term absence are 1 during weeks in June and July when there is no football championship, they rise to 1.57 during weeks when there is a championship. The odds describe the relationship between the probability of being absent and the probability of not being absent.
Absence during a championship summer varies between different population segments, according to Statistics Sweden.
"Among other things, younger people have lower absenteeism rates than older people, and those born abroad are absent to a lesser extent than those born in Sweden," says Lena Johansson.
The figures are taken from the Labour Force Surveys (AKU).
