About MTUS

The Multinational Time Use Study contains time-diary samples collected over five decades from 25 countries. The dataset includes harmonised background, activity, location, mode of transport and who else was present variables.

Professor Jonathan Gershuny first developed the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) in the mid 1970s. While working at the University of Bath with Sally Jones, Professor Gershuny developed a single dataset with common series of background variables and total time spent per day in 41 activities. The original MTUS allowed comparison of British time use data with the 1965 Szalai Multinational Time Budget Study and data from Canada and Denmark. The MTUS since has grown to offer harmonised episode and context information and to encompass over 60 datasets from 25 countries, including recent data from the HETUS, ATUS, and other national level time use projects. Professor Gershuny, and Dr. Margarita Vega Rapun presently manage the study at the Centre for Time Use Research, University College London. IPUMS Time Use will contribute to the conversion of surveys from some new countries in the future.