過勞死一詞雖然誕生于日本，但早已成為全球各地的普遍現象。世界衛生組織和國際勞工組織聯合開展的研究發現，2016年全球過勞者近5億人，其中超74.5萬人死于過勞引起的中風和心臟病。

Working long hours poses an occupational health risk that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, the World Health Organization says.

世界衛生組織稱，長時間工作帶來的職業健康風險每年導致數十萬人喪生。

People working 55 or more hours each week face an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared to people following the widely accepted standard of working 35 to 40 hours in a week, the WHO says in a study that was published Monday in the journal Environment International.

世衛組織5月17日發表在《國際環境》期刊上的一項研究指出，相比每周工作常規的35到40小時的人，每周工作55小時以上的人患中風的風險高出35%，死于心臟病的風險高出17%。

"No job is worth the risk of stroke or heart disease," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, calling on governments, businesses and workers to find ways to protect workers' health.

世衛組織總干事譚德塞表示：“沒有哪份工作值得你冒著中風或心臟病的風險去做。”他呼吁政府、企業和工作人員設法保護員工健康。

The global study, which the WHO calls the first of its kind, found that in 2016, 488 million people were exposed to the risks of working long hours.

世衛組織表示，這是該領域首個全球研究，結果發現，2016年有4.88億人暴露在長時間工作的風險下。

In all, more than 745,000 people died that year from overwork that resulted in stroke and heart disease, according to the WHO.

根據世衛組織的報告，2016年共有逾74.5萬人死于過勞引起的中風和心臟病。

"Between 2000 and 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to working long hours increased by 42%, and from stroke by 19%," the WHO said as it announced the study, which it conducted with the International Labour Organization.

這項研究是由世衛組織和國際勞工組織聯合開展的，世衛組織在宣布研究結果時表示：“2000年至2016年間，死于長時間工作導致的心臟病和中風的人數分別增加了42%和19%。”

The study doesn't cover the past year, in which the COVID-19 pandemic thrust national economies into crisis and reshaped how millions of people work. But its authors note that overwork has been on the rise for years due to phenomena such as the gig economy and telework — and they say the pandemic will likely accelerate those trends.

該研究沒有覆蓋過去一年的數據，因為新冠疫情讓各國經濟陷入了危機，并改變了數百萬人的工作方式。但是研究作者指出，由于零工經濟和遠程辦公等現象的出現，這些年來過勞問題愈演愈烈，疫情很可能加劇了這一趨勢。

"Teleworking has become the norm in many industries, often blurring the boundaries between home and work," Ghebreyesus said. "In addition, many businesses have been forced to scale back or shut down operations to save money, and people who are still on the payroll end up working longer hours."

譚德塞表示：“遠程辦公已經成為很多行業的常規做法，而且通常會模糊家和工作之間的界限。此外，許多企業已被迫縮減人員規模或停業來省錢，結果在職員工的工作時間更長了。”

Also, recessions like the one the world has seen in the past year are commonly followed by a rise in working hours, the researchers said.

研究人員稱，伴隨過去一年的這種全球性經濟衰退而來的往往是工作時間的延長。

The study found the highest health burdens from overwork in men and in workers who are middle-age or older. Regionally, people in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region had the most exposure to the risk. People in Europe had the lowest exposure.

研究發現，男性和中年以上員工過勞帶來的健康負擔最重。從地域來看，東南亞和西太平洋地區員工的過勞比例最大，而歐洲員工的過勞比例最小。

In the US, less than 5% of the population is exposed to long work hours, according to a map the WHO published with the study. That proportion is similar to Brazil and Canada — and much lower than Mexico and in countries across most of Central and South America.

世衛組織在研究報告中發布的地圖顯示，在美國，不到5%的人工作時間過長。巴西和加拿大也有類似的過勞比例，遠低于墨西哥和中南美大部分地區的國家。

Several steps could help ease the burden on workers, the study states, including governments adopting and enforcing labor standards on working time.

該研究提出了幾個有助于減輕員工負擔的措施，包括政府采納和實施勞動時間標準。

The authors also say employers should be more flexible in scheduling, and to agree with their employees on a maximum number of working hours. In another step, the study suggests workers arrange to share hours so no one is working 55 or more hours in a week.

研究作者還指出，雇主應該靈活安排工作日程，并和員工就勞動時間上限達成一致。該研究還建議員工平攤工作時間，確保大家每周工作時間都不超過55個小時。

To compile the report, researchers reviewed and analyzed dozens of studies on heart disease and stroke. They then estimated workers' health risks based on data drawn from a number of sources, including more than 2,300 surveys on working hours that were conducted in 154 countries from the 1970s through 2018.

為了編纂這一報告，研究人員回顧和分析了數十項關于心臟病和中風的研究。他們還基于多個來源提取的數據來估算員工的健康風險，這些來源包括20世紀70年代到2018年間在154個國家開展的2300多項關于勞動時間的調查。

英文來源：美國國家公共電臺

翻譯&編輯：丹妮