Women worldwide spend 16 billion hours on unpaid care work.

Omissions

• The MEP omitted the critical time qualifier 'per day' (cada día). Without it, the claim reads as a total or annual figure, which is misleading. 16 billion hours per day is equivalent to approximately 5.8 trillion hours per year.
• The original ILO (2018) figure of 'more than 16 billion hours per day' refers to TOTAL unpaid care work by both men and women globally. Women perform 76.2% of this total (approximately 12.2 billion hours daily), not the full 16 billion. However, UN Women and other organizations have simplified the messaging to say 'women and girls do 16 billion hours,' so the MEP's attribution reflects common institutional usage rather than an error.
• The data originates from the ILO's 2018 report 'Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work.' While the structural pattern remains valid, no more recent global estimate was cited.

Sources

• PrimaryILOSTAT (International Labour Organization)Every day, more than 16 billion hours are devoted to unpaid domestic and care work around the world.
• PrimaryUN WomenWomen and girls do 16 billion hours of unpaid care every day – powering families, communities, and economies.
• PrimaryUN Global Accelerator (Roadmap on Care Economy and Health Workers)Women perform 76.2 per cent of the total amount of unpaid care work (16 billion hours per day), 3.2 times more time than men.
• SecondaryEuropean Public Service Union (EPSU)A recently published article by UN Women highlights the 16 billion hours of unpaid care work done by women globally every day.