Is Spain’s late-night lifestyle a precious part of our culture – or should we be more like sensible Sweden? | María Ramírez

With restaurants serving dinner until 1 am, we are outliers in Europe. But some are attacking calls for change as a loss of freedom

Spain's employment minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Diaz, described the late opening hours of restaurants and bars, earlier this month, as madness". A country that has its restaurants open at one o'clock in the morning is not reasonable," she said. Hospitality industry figures and conservative politicians responded with outrage. The deputy prime minister thinks she lives in Sweden instead of Spain," a furious restaurant owner in Barcelona told El Pais, pointing out the late sunset in her city. That day, 6 March, the sun set in Stockholm at 5.29pm, and in Barcelona at 6.48pm. In Stockholm, restaurants typically close at 11pm; in Barcelona, restaurants and bars are allowed to open until 2.30am on weekdays, and until 3am at weekends.

Spain is not Sweden in many ways. In 2022, in Sweden, the GDP value of a worker's hour was $75, compared with $53 in Spain, which is below the European average. GDP per capita is almost double in Sweden. The standard working week in Sweden is one hour longer than in Spain. Overall life satisfaction is higher in Sweden.

Maria Ramirez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain