Until this year, workers in the vast and sparsely populated nation of Mongolia have worked a 46-hour week, with six of those hours on Saturday. Now the working week has been reduced to 40 hours, or five full days.

In other words, Mongolian workers can for the first time enjoy a full weekend off. The countrys leaders say the change is aimed at bringing Mongolia into line with international practice, improving industrial efficiency and creating more jobs.

In recent years, Mongolia has been carrying out wide ranging reforms in an effort to revive an economy that was once reliant on aid from the Soviet Union. The results have been mixed: unemployment and inflation have soared, but there's also been an increase in foreign investment and a considerable improvement in the service sector with many new bars, shops and restaurants opening up.

Its still, however, one of the poorest countries in the world, and so the five-day working week is unlikely to lead to the rapid expansion of the leisure industry which at present is primarily geared towards wealthy foreigners. Some residents are concerned that with extra time on their hands, workers will simply turn increasingly to drink.

Alcoholism is already one of the country's biggest social problems. About 40% of the Mongolian labour force won't be affected the change at all.