Chile’s Second National Time Use Survey: 2023 results

Chile’s survey connects unpaid care and labor with gender inequality, making time available for work and political participation a public question. How much housework happens in a day depends on how a day is defined, who counts as a participant and whom the survey includes. Chile’s Second National Time Use Survey summary, released January 17, 2025, reports 2023 data for people aged 12 and over in major urban areas. It is not a portrait of all urban and rural residents.

A typical day is a weighted measure

Weekday and weekend reference days are combined using five weekdays and two weekend days. This differs from asking only about yesterday and from Mexico’s reference-week questions. A cross-country comparison must check collection methods and units before ranking women’s hours.

Mean duration among participants also differs from an average across the whole population. The denominator matters when only some people undertake an activity. Hours-and-minutes notation is not decimal time: two hours thirty minutes is not 2.30 hours.

Counting unpaid work within total work

Placing paid and unpaid activity together shows why earnings cannot stand in for workload. The labor sustaining households shapes rest, study and entry into employment, rather than simply reflecting affection for family life.

An experimental simultaneous-activity module addresses overlapping tasks. Adding every duration can double-count, while recognizing only dedicated care blocks can erase responsibility and availability. Methodological choices help determine which burdens become visible.

Urban coverage, recall and classifications limit interpretation. The figures alone do not establish how preferences form or the causal effect of a policy. Mexico’s 2024 survey provides a methodological comparison. Biroli on the sexual division of labor and democracy connects time inequality with public participation: the chance to enter political life is also shaped by the allocation of work at home.

Original title: Síntesis de resultados: II Encuesta Nacional sobre Uso del Tiempo 2023.