Is Spanish time schedule really weird? // De verdad son tan an\'omalos los horarios espa\~noles? Una comparaci\'on con Italia y Reino Unido

TL;DR

This study compares time use surveys from Spain, Italy, and the UK, showing Spanish schedules align with geographical position and are not unusually odd, especially when considering latitude and longitude.

Contribution

It provides a regional analysis demonstrating that Spanish time schedules are consistent with geographical factors, challenging the notion of them being anomalous.

Findings

Spanish schedules align with geographical position.

Midlatitude regions have earlier morning activities.

Data shows good agreement within half a time zone.

Abstract

There are currently a vivid debate in Spain on the time zone which should follow the country. In this context this paper analyses Time Use surveys in Spain, Italy and United Kingdom and compares data extracted from them. The paper focus on universal activities like: sleeping, eating, working and the location "at home". Data are analysed on the regional basis provided by the surveys. Regional distributions of first and last occurrences of the activities are described by median values. Median values are then compared to each other by considering longitude and latitude. Within the interval of half a time zone, data show a good agreement. Which is to say, Spanish time schedules are not really weird if geographical position is taken into account. That includes also latitude. It is shown that midlatitude regions may undergo earlier time tables in the morning. ---- En el contexto de la discusi\'on actual que se vive en Espa\~na sobre la pertinencia de sus horarios y sobre el huso horario que ha de regir en el pa\'is este estudio analiza las encuestas de Empleo de Tiempo de Reino Unido, Italia y Espa\~na. Los datos de las encuestas se analizan en base regional. Dentro del intervalo de medio huso horario los datos disponibles parecen concordar bastante bien. Es decir, aparentemente, los horarios espa\~noles no son especialmente extra\~nos si tenemos en cuenta la posici\'on geogr\'afica. Esto incluye no solo la longitud sino tambi\'en la latitud. Los datos sugieren que las regiones de latitudes medias pueden desarrollar horarios m\'as tempranos por la ma\~nana, en comparaci\'on con regiones con latitud m\'as extrema.