Statutory Vacation Days by Country
🏖️ Paid annual leave + public holidays
Scope	All European countries + world’s top 50 economies
Metric	Statutory minimum paid leave + paid public holidays
Most generous	Iran (≈53 days)
Europe leader	Austria & Malta (38 days)
Least generous	United States (0 mandated days)
Countries listed	70

Statutory Vacation Days by Country

This article summarises the legally mandated paid time off — statutory minimum paid annual leave plus paid public holidays — across all countries of Europe and the world’s fifty largest economies. Figures are ranked from most days to fewest. All values are statutory minimums set by national labour law; actual entitlements are frequently higher through collective agreements, seniority, or individual employment contracts.

Summary

Across the developed and developing world, statutory paid leave clusters around a common floor of 20 working days (four weeks) of annual leave, to which each country adds a variable number of paid public holidays. The differences between nations are driven far more by public-holiday counts and top-ups than by the annual-leave base.

Iran tops the world with roughly 53 paid days off a year, combining a generous annual-leave allowance with one of the highest public-holiday counts on earth (27). Within Europe, Austria and Malta lead at 38 days, followed closely by a cluster of Nordic, Iberian and Baltic states in the mid-30s. Traditionally “holiday-rich” reputations hold up: France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and Finland all sit at 36.

At the other extreme, the United States is the only high-income country with no statutory paid leave and no mandated paid public holidays whatsoever — a legal floor of zero. Among large Asian economies, China (16), Japan (26) and Singapore (18) offer comparatively modest statutory minimums, though these rise substantially with employee tenure.

Methodology & caveats

• What is counted: the national statutory minimum of paid annual leave plus the number of paid public / national holidays. The two are summed to give “total paid days off.”
• Working days: annual-leave figures are expressed in working days on a five-day week. Where a country’s statute is written in calendar days (e.g. 30 calendar days), the figure has been converted to the equivalent working-day count for comparability (30 calendar → 22 working).
• Entry-level minimum: figures assume a private-sector employee with minimal seniority. Many countries increase entitlement with age or tenure — e.g. China (5→10→15 days), Japan (10→20), Poland (20→26), Saudi Arabia (21→30) and Austria (25→30). These higher tiers are not reflected in the ranking.
• Public holidays vary regionally: in federal states (Germany, Switzerland, Spain, USA) the number of public holidays differs by region; a representative national figure is used.
• Scope: the list covers every sovereign European country plus the world’s ~50 largest economies by nominal GDP. Many countries qualify on both counts.
• Figures are approximate and intended for comparison, not legal advice. Labour law changes frequently (e.g. Mexico’s 2023 doubling of statutory leave). Always confirm current entitlements with an authoritative national source.

Full ranking table

Sorted from most total paid days off to fewest. “Region” notes the country grouping; E = European country, and countries among the world’s top-50 economies are marked in the Economy column.

#	Country	Region	Annual leave	Public holidays	Total days	Top-50 economy
1	Iran	Middle East	26	27	53	✓
2	Austria	Europe	25	13	38	✓
3	Malta	Europe	24	14	38
4	Iceland	Europe	24	13	37
5	Luxembourg	Europe	26	11	37
6	Andorra	Europe	22	14	36
7	Denmark	Europe	25	11	36	✓
8	Egypt	Africa	21	15	36	✓
9	Finland	Europe	25	11	36	✓
10	France	Europe	25	11	36	✓
11	San Marino	Europe	20	16	36
12	Spain	Europe	22	14	36	✓
13	Sweden	Europe	25	11	36	✓
14	United Arab Emirates	Middle East	22	14	36	✓
15	Cyprus	Europe	20	15	35
16	Portugal	Europe	22	13	35	✓
17	Romania	Europe	20	15	35	✓
18	Slovakia	Europe	20	15	35
19	Latvia	Europe	20	14	34
20	Monaco	Europe	22	12	34
21	Peru	Americas	22	12	34
22	Russia	Europe/Asia	20	14	34	✓
23	Albania	Europe	20	13	33
24	Argentina	Americas	14	19	33	✓
25	Brazil	Americas	22	11	33	✓
26	Colombia	Americas	15	18	33	✓
27	Croatia	Europe	20	13	33
28	Czechia	Europe	20	13	33	✓
29	Lithuania	Europe	20	13	33
30	Poland	Europe	20	13	33	✓
31	Slovenia	Europe	20	13	33
32	Bangladesh	Asia	10	22	32	✓
33	Bulgaria	Europe	20	12	32
34	Estonia	Europe	20	12	32
35	Greece	Europe	20	12	32	✓
36	Italy	Europe	20	12	32	✓
37	Moldova	Europe	20	12	32
38	New Zealand	Oceania	20	12	32
39	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	21	11	32	✓
40	Germany	Europe	20	11	31	✓
41	Hungary	Europe	20	11	31
42	Montenegro	Europe	20	11	31
43	North Macedonia	Europe	20	11	31
44	Norway	Europe	21	10	31	✓
45	Serbia	Europe	20	11	31
46	Ukraine	Europe	20	11	31
47	Australia	Oceania	20	10	30	✓
48	Belgium	Europe	20	10	30	✓
49	Bosnia & Herzegovina	Europe	20	10	30
50	Chile	Americas	15	15	30	✓
51	Ireland	Europe	20	10	30	✓
52	Kosovo	Europe	20	10	30
53	South Korea	Asia	15	15	30	✓
54	Belarus	Europe	20	9	29
55	Liechtenstein	Europe	20	9	29
56	Netherlands	Europe	20	9	29	✓
57	Switzerland	Europe	20	9	29	✓
58	Indonesia	Asia	12	16	28	✓
59	United Kingdom	Europe	20	8	28	✓
60	India	Asia	12	15	27	✓
61	Pakistan	Asia	14	13	27	✓
62	South Africa	Africa	15	12	27	✓
63	Japan	Asia	10	16	26	✓
64	Hong Kong	Asia	7	17	24	✓
65	Philippines	Asia	5	18	23	✓
66	Vietnam	Asia	12	11	23	✓
67	Thailand	Asia	6	16	22	✓
68	Israel	Middle East	12	9	21	✓
69	Malaysia	Asia	8	13	21	✓
70	Canada	Americas	10	9	19	✓
71	Mexico	Americas	12	7	19	✓
72	Singapore	Asia	7	11	18	✓
73	Nigeria	Africa	6	11	17	✓
74	China	Asia	5	11	16	✓
75	United States	Americas	0	0	0	✓

Note: The United States has no federal statutory paid leave and no legally mandated paid public holidays, though most employers voluntarily offer both. Federal public holidays (11) are paid only for federal government employees.

European highlights

• Most generous in Europe: Austria and Malta (38 days), followed by Iceland and Luxembourg (37).
• The “36-day club”: Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Sweden, Andorra and San Marino — the Nordic-Mediterranean heartland of generous leave.
• The common European floor: the EU’s Working Time Directive guarantees a minimum of four weeks (20 working days) of paid annual leave to every worker; national law and public holidays build on top.
• Lowest in Europe: the United Kingdom (28) sits at the bottom of the European table — its statutory 28 days notably includes the 8 bank holidays rather than adding them on top.

Largest-economy highlights

• G7 spread: France (36) and Germany (31) anchor the generous end; the UK (28), Japan (26), Canada (19) and the USA (0) trail well behind.
• The US outlier: the world’s largest economy is the only advanced economy—and one of only a handful of countries globally—with zero statutory paid leave.
• Asia’s low statutory base: China (16), Singapore (18) and Japan (26) offer modest legal minimums, but all three ramp entitlement up sharply with years of service.
• Latin America leans on holidays: Argentina and Colombia reach the low-30s largely through high public-holiday counts (18–19) rather than long annual leave.

Country notes

• Iran — combines ~26 working days of leave with 27 public holidays (the most in the world), giving the highest global total.
• United Kingdom — the statutory 5.6 weeks (28 days) is inclusive of bank holidays, unlike most of Europe where holidays are additional.
• United States — no federal mandate for either paid leave or paid holidays; entitlements are entirely employer-discretionary.
• China — annual leave is 5 days (1–10 yrs’ service), rising to 10 days (10–20 yrs) and 15 days (20+ yrs).
• Japan — 10 days after six months, rising by roughly one day per year to a cap of 20.
• Mexico — the 2023 “Vacaciones Dignas” reform doubled the minimum from 6 to 12 days, rising with seniority.
• Brazil, Peru, U.A.E., Andorra, Monaco, Russia — statutes are written in calendar days (e.g. 30 calendar days), shown here converted to working-day equivalents.
• Federal states (Germany, Switzerland, Spain, USA) — public-holiday counts vary by region; a representative figure is used.

Sources

Compiled from statutory labour-law data aggregated by the following references. Figures represent statutory minimums for private-sector employees and are subject to change:

• Wikipedia — List of minimum annual leave by country
• Statista — Statutory minimum paid leave and public holidays
• Deel — Paid Annual Leave Per Country: Global Guide
• Resume.io — Which country gets the most paid vacation days?