50 Economic Cost of Poor Sleep Statistics for 2026 (Data + Sources)

Poor sleep is not just a health problem. It is a measurable drag on the economy. The RAND Corporation puts the cost of insufficient sleep to the United States at up to $411 billion a year, equal to 2.28% of the country's gross domestic product. That single figure has anchored almost every serious estimate of what tired workers cost their employers and their national economies.

This page pulls together 50 sourced statistics on the economic cost of poor sleep across North America and beyond. The numbers cover lost productivity, health care spending, road crashes, and the money left on the table when short sleepers get more rest. Every figure links to a primary source, so you can cite the data directly.

Key Takeaways

• $411 billion a year: the RAND estimate of what insufficient sleep costs the U.S. economy, equal to 2.28% of GDP and up to 1.2 million lost working days.
• Up to $680 billion across five economies: the combined annual loss for the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
• Canada loses up to $21.4 billion a year, about 1.35% of GDP. That is the lowest rate of the five countries studied, but still close to 80,000 working days.
• Roughly 1 in 3 U.S. adults sleeps under 7 hours (30.5% in 2024), which is the demand side driving the cost.
• Better sleep is worth hundreds of billions. Moving short sleepers to 6 to 7 hours a night could add $226.4 billion to the U.S. economy and $12 billion to Canada's.

Sleep Loss and the U.S. Economy: The Headline Numbers

Insufficient sleep costs the United States more than any other developed country studied, driven by lost productivity and higher mortality among short sleepers. These figures come from the landmark cross-country study by RAND and from peer-reviewed workplace research.

The RAND estimate of what insufficient sleep costs the United States each year, equal to 2.28% of GDP. Source: RAND Corporation.

1. Insufficient sleep costs the U.S. economy up to $411 billion a year. That is 2.28% of U.S. GDP, according to RAND's analysis of the sleep economy. It is the single most-cited figure in the field.

2. The loss runs from $280 billion to $411 billion depending on the model. RAND reports the U.S. sustains by far the highest annual economic loss of the countries it studied, between $280 billion and $411 billion.

3. Tired workers cost the U.S. up to 1.2 million working days a year. RAND estimates the equivalent of about 1.2 million working days are lost annually in the United States because of insufficient sleep.

4. A person sleeping under 6 hours a night has a 13% higher mortality risk. RAND found that an individual who averages less than six hours of sleep has a 13% higher risk of death than someone sleeping seven to nine hours.

5. Short sleepers report a 2.4 percentage-point higher productivity loss. Workers sleeping under six hours a day report about a 2.4 percentage-point higher loss of productivity from absenteeism and presenteeism than those who sleep more, per RAND.

6. Insomnia alone costs the U.S. an estimated $63.2 billion a year. A study in the journal SLEEP put the national cost of insomnia-related lost productivity at $63.2 billion.

7. Insomnia costs the average U.S. worker $2,280 a year. The same SLEEP study found insomnia costs each affected worker about $2,280 in lost productivity annually.

8. Insomnia costs 11.3 days of lost performance per worker each year. The SLEEP study measured the loss at 11.3 days of work performance for the average worker with insomnia.

The Global Cost of Poor Sleep, by Country

Poor sleep costs five industrialized economies up to $680 billion a year combined, with the burden scaling to each country's workforce and wages. The United States carries the largest dollar loss, while Japan loses the most as a share of its economy. Canada, often left out of the headlines, sits at the low end of the range.

Annual cost of insufficient sleep as a share of GDP. The US loses the most in dollars, Japan the most relative to its economy. Source: RAND Corporation.

9. Insufficient sleep costs five OECD countries up to $680 billion a year. RAND found that insufficient sleep among their populations cost the five OECD countries it studied up to $680 billion of economic output every year.

10. Japan loses up to $138 billion a year, the highest share of any country. RAND puts Japan's loss between $88 billion and $138 billion, equal to 2.92% of GDP, the largest proportional hit of the five economies.

11. Germany loses up to $60 billion a year. RAND estimates Germany's annual loss between $39.3 billion and $60 billion, or 1.56% of GDP.

12. The United Kingdom loses up to $50.2 billion (about £40 billion) a year. RAND puts the U.K. loss between $36.7 billion and $50.2 billion, roughly 1.86% of GDP.

13. Canada loses up to $21.4 billion a year. RAND found that Canada has the lowest financial losses of the five countries, up to $21.4 billion, which is 1.35% of its GDP. This 2016 Canadian estimate remains the most complete figure available for the country.

14. Canada loses close to 80,000 working days a year to poor sleep. RAND estimates just under 80,000 working days are lost annually in Canada, the smallest count of the five economies.

15. Japan loses about 600,000 working days a year. RAND reports Japan gives up roughly 600,000 working days annually, while Germany and the U.K. each lose about 200,000.

16. A 2026 review restated the five-country total at up to $680 billion. A science news summary revisited the RAND findings in 2026 and again put the cost of poor sleep across five industrialized countries at up to $680 billion per year, confirming the estimate still stands a decade on.

How Common Is Poor Sleep in North America?

Roughly one in three adults in the United States and Canada sleeps less than the recommended amount, which is the reason the economic totals are so large. Prevalence is the demand side of the cost: the more short sleepers in the workforce, the higher the productivity and health bill.

17. 30.5% of U.S. adults slept less than 7 hours a night in 2024. The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reports that in 2024, 30.5% of adults slept less than 7 hours on average in a 24-hour period.

18. That is roughly 1 in 3 American adults. The CDC figure of 30.5% has held between about 30% and 35% for more than a decade, making short sleep a stable feature of the U.S. workforce, not a spike.

19. Trouble falling asleep is most common among younger adults. The CDC found trouble falling asleep decreased with age, from 18.3% among adults ages 18 to 34 to 12.8% among adults 65 and older.

20. Obstructive sleep apnea affects 29.4 million U.S. adults. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that obstructive sleep apnea afflicts 29.4 million American men and women.

21. That is 12% of the U.S. adult population. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine puts the share of adults living with obstructive sleep apnea at 12%, a large pool of untreated, sleep-disrupted workers.

22. Canadians aged 18 to 64 average 7.12 hours of sleep a night. Statistics Canada found in its Health Reports that working-age Canadians average 7.12 hours per night, just inside the recommended range.

23. About one-third of Canadian adults sleep fewer hours than recommended. The same Statistics Canada analysis found roughly one-third of Canadians aged 18 to 64 fall short of the recommended amount of sleep. For a deeper Canadian breakdown, see our sleep deprivation statistics for Canada.

Where the Cost Comes From: Lost Productivity

Lost productivity is the largest driver of the economic cost of poor sleep, and most of it happens while tired workers are still at their desks. Economists split the loss into absenteeism (missed days) and presenteeism (present but underperforming), and presenteeism is consistently the bigger share.

24. Presenteeism costs more than absenteeism in every major study. Tired employees who show up but work below capacity account for a larger share of lost output than those who miss work outright, a pattern RAND and workplace researchers report consistently.

25. Lost productivity from poor sleep cost Australia $12.19 billion in one year. A 2018 Australian study published in the journal SLEEP measured productivity losses of $12.19 billion in 2016 to 2017, covering absenteeism, presenteeism, and reduced employment.

26. Presenteeism outweighed absenteeism among Australia's productivity costs. The same Australian study measured $4.63 billion in presenteeism and $1.73 billion in absenteeism, with the rest of the $12.19 billion coming from reduced employment and other productivity losses.

27. Sleep-related accidents cost Australia $2.48 billion in a single year. The Australian study attributed $2.48 billion in costs to accidents linked to poor sleep.

28. Inadequate sleep cost Australia $45.21 billion in total in one year. The same Australian study estimated the total cost of inadequate sleep, including financial and wellbeing costs, at $45.21 billion for 2016 to 2017.

29. That total equalled about 1.55% of Australian GDP. The Australian study put the combined burden at roughly 1.55% of the country's GDP, in the same band as RAND's cross-country estimates.

30. An extra hour of weekly sleep is linked to 5% higher long-term earnings. World Finance reported that a one-hour increase in weekly sleep boosted an individual's earnings by 5% in the long term, showing the productivity link at the level of a single paycheque.

31. Short sleepers drag on national output at a measurable rate. RAND's finding that under-6-hour sleepers report a 2.4 percentage-point higher productivity loss scales across a workforce into billions in reduced output, which is how prevalence turns into macroeconomic cost.

For the Canadian side of the productivity picture, see our sleep and productivity statistics for Canada.

The Health Care Cost of Poor Sleep

Untreated sleep disorders add tens of billions in medical and productivity costs, and obstructive sleep apnea is the most expensive single condition. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine commissioned a Frost & Sullivan analysis that broke the burden down component by component.

Where the $149.6 billion annual cost of undiagnosed sleep apnea lands. Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

32. Undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea costs the U.S. about $149.6 billion a year. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports the annual economic burden of undiagnosed sleep apnea among U.S. adults is approximately $149.6 billion.

33. Lost productivity makes up $86.9 billion of that burden. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine attributes $86.9 billion of the undiagnosed-apnea cost to lost workplace productivity, the single largest slice.

34. Motor vehicle accidents add $26.2 billion. The Frost & Sullivan analysis for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine ties $26.2 billion of the apnea burden to motor vehicle crashes.

35. Workplace accidents add $6.5 billion. The same analysis attributes $6.5 billion in costs to workplace accidents linked to undiagnosed sleep apnea.

36. Higher health care use accounts for roughly $30 billion. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine estimates about $30 billion in added health care spending from comorbidities tied to undiagnosed apnea.

37. Diagnosing and treating every apnea patient would save an estimated $100.1 billion. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that treating all U.S. sleep apnea patients would produce an annual economic saving of $100.1 billion, showing the cost is largely recoverable.

38. Poor sleep drives costly chronic disease. The medical bills tied to insufficient sleep flow through heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, the comorbidities that CDC and RAND both name as the mechanism turning lost sleep into hospital visits.

Drowsy Driving and Accident Costs

Drowsy driving turns lost sleep into crashes, injuries, and deaths, at a societal cost near $109 billion a year. The toll is also badly undercounted in official crash records, which makes the real figure higher than the reported one.

The yearly toll of drowsy driving in the United States. Source: Governors Highway Safety Association.

39. Drowsy driving costs U.S. society about $109 billion a year. The Governors Highway Safety Association reports that tired drivers contribute to hundreds of thousands of crashes and cost society $109 billion a year, excluding property damage.

40. Tired drivers cause an estimated 328,000 crashes a year. The Governors Highway Safety Association attributes about 328,000 crashes annually to drowsy driving.

41. Those crashes cause about 109,000 injuries a year. The same report links drowsy driving to roughly 109,000 injuries each year in the United States.

42. Drowsy driving is tied to thousands of deaths a year. The Governors Highway Safety Association estimates around 6,400 deaths annually from crashes involving tired drivers.

43. More than 6,300 people died in suspected drowsy-driving crashes in 2023. A 2026 update from the Governors Highway Safety Association found more than 6,300 deaths in suspected drowsy-driving crashes in 2023, about 10 times higher than the number officially reported.

44. Crash costs feed straight back into the apnea burden. The $26.2 billion in motor vehicle costs that the American Academy of Sleep Medicine ties to undiagnosed apnea overlaps heavily with drowsy driving, showing the same tired drivers appear in both ledgers.

The Upside: What Better Sleep Is Worth

The cost of poor sleep is largely recoverable, and RAND quantified the upside for each economy. Shifting the shortest sleepers to a healthier range would return hundreds of billions to output, a rare case where the fix pays for itself.

Moving from under six hours to six or seven cuts the excess mortality risk roughly in half. Source: RAND Corporation.

45. Moving U.S. short sleepers to 6 to 7 hours could add $226.4 billion. RAND estimated that if people sleeping under six hours increased to between six and seven hours, it could add $226.4 billion to the U.S. economy.

46. The same shift could add $12 billion to Canada's economy. RAND found the identical change would add $12 billion to the Canadian economy, roughly matching the country's smaller workforce.

47. Sleeping 6 to 7 hours cuts the excess mortality risk roughly in half. RAND reported that a person sleeping six to seven hours a night carries a 7% higher mortality risk, down from 13% for those under six hours, which is why small increases in sleep produce outsized economic returns.

48. The gains scale across every economy studied. RAND modelled the same upside for Japan, Germany, and the U.K., meaning the recoverable value across the five countries reaches into the hundreds of billions, mirroring the loss.

The Sleep Economy: Market Size and Growth

Consumers already spend hundreds of billions trying to fix poor sleep, and the market is growing fast. The size of the "sleep economy" is the mirror image of the cost figures: money spent chasing the rest that the workforce is not getting.

49. The global sleep economy is worth close to $600 billion. World Finance reports the global sleep economy has been estimated at nearly $600 billion, spanning mattresses, devices, medication, clinics, and sleep-focused travel.

50. The sleep aids market is projected to more than double to $173.68 billion by 2035. Precedence Research values the global sleep aids market at $83.64 billion in 2025, rising to $173.68 billion by 2035 at a compound annual growth rate of 7.58%, as of 2026.

FAQs

How much does poor sleep cost the U.S. economy?

Up to $411 billion a year, according to the RAND Corporation. That figure equals 2.28% of U.S. GDP and accounts for up to 1.2 million lost working days annually. The cost flows mainly through lost productivity (both absenteeism and presenteeism), higher health care spending from chronic disease, and motor vehicle crashes tied to drowsy driving.

How much does poor sleep cost the Canadian economy?

Up to $21.4 billion a year, or about 1.35% of GDP. Canada has the lowest financial loss of the five OECD countries RAND studied, but still loses close to 80,000 working days annually. About one-third of Canadian adults aged 18 to 64 sleep fewer hours than recommended, which drives the bulk of that cost through reduced workplace output.

Is presenteeism or absenteeism a bigger cost of poor sleep?

Presenteeism is consistently larger. Tired workers who show up but underperform cost more in total output than those who miss work entirely. In Australia's detailed 2016 to 2017 breakdown, presenteeism accounted for $4.63 billion in losses compared to $1.73 billion from absenteeism. RAND and workplace researchers report the same pattern across every major economy studied.

How much would better sleep add to the economy?

RAND estimates that moving workers who sleep under six hours up to six or seven hours a night could add $226.4 billion to the U.S. economy and $12 billion to Canada's. That shift also cuts the excess mortality risk roughly in half, from 13% to 7%. The gains scale across all five economies in the study, putting the total recoverable value in the hundreds of billions.

The Bottom Line

The economic cost of poor sleep is real, large, and well documented. Insufficient sleep costs the United States up to $411 billion a year and the five largest economies studied up to $680 billion combined, through lost productivity, higher health care spending, and road crashes. Canada's share runs up to $21.4 billion. The encouraging part is that RAND's numbers show the cost is recoverable: even a modest lift in sleep among the shortest sleepers would return hundreds of billions to output.

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Sources

1. RAND Europe: Why Sleep Matters, Quantifying the Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep
2. RAND: Lack of Sleep Costing the U.S. Economy Up to $411 Billion a Year
3. RAND: Why Sleep Matters, the Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep (full report)
4. CDC National Center for Health Statistics: Short Sleep Duration Among Adults, United States
5. American Academy of Sleep Medicine: Economic Burden of Undiagnosed Sleep Apnea
6. Governors Highway Safety Association: Wake Up Call, Understanding Drowsy Driving
7. Governors Highway Safety Association: Drowsy Driving Data Analysis
8. SLEEP journal: Insomnia and the Performance of U.S. Workers
9. SLEEP journal: The Economic Cost of Inadequate Sleep
10. World Finance: The Economics of Sleep
11. Precedence Research: Sleep Aids Market
12. Statistics Canada: Duration and Quality of Sleep Among Canadians
13. Medical Xpress: Poor Sleep Threatens Health, Society and the Economy

The Author: Duane Franklin