Public holidays by country (2026)

Last updated July 24, 2026. Jump to: What counts as a public holiday · The country table · What the count varies by · What it means for employers · How to use this data · FAQ

What counts as a paid public holiday

A public holiday, in the sense used here, is a day set by national or regional law on which employees are entitled to their normal pay without working. It sits alongside — not instead of — a country’s annual leave entitlement; the two are separate categories of paid time off, and our country guides usually list them separately.

The separation shows up directly in a few of our guides. Brazil’s annual leave entry states 30 calendar days plus public holidays; Spain’s states 30 calendar days plus up to 14 public holidays. Public holidays are additive to leave, not a subset of it.

Two other things affect how a guide states the count. Some public holidays fall on a fixed calendar date every year; others move — set annually against a religious calendar, a lunar date, or a government announcement — which is part of why a few of our guides give a range rather than one number. And whether a holiday that lands on a weekend gets a substitute working day differs by country too; our guides note that detail on the specific country page rather than folding it into the headline count.

Public holidays by country

The table lists 30 countries whose guides state a public holiday count, chosen for a spread across every region we cover. Some entries are a single number; others are a range, or a note that the count depends on the state, province, or canton. Open a country’s guide for the actual calendar — which days, and whether any move each year.

Use the raw number for a quick comparison of scheduling slack across countries, and the guide link when you need the actual dates for a specific hire. The description column keeps our guide’s own wording, including any caveat about the count varying — that context is part of the figure, not extra detail to skip.

Source: our country guides, checked July 2026. Every figure is the guide’s own statement, not a recalculation. Other countries in our guide set also state a public holiday count; open the full country guide list for any country not shown here.

What the count actually varies by

Three things drive the spread in the table. First, plain national variation: Australia, Mexico, and the Netherlands each set 8, while the Philippines sets 19 — more than double, with no regional complication in either case.

Second, several countries do not have one national number at all. The United Kingdom’s guide splits it by nation — 8 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, 10 in Scotland. Canada’s 9 is a federal figure that varies by province. Switzerland ranges 8 to 15 depending on canton. India’s guide is the widest split of all: 3 national holidays plus 7 to 14 state or festival days, so the real count depends heavily on where in the country someone works.

Third, a range inside one country’s own guide, such as Argentina’s 16–19 or Egypt’s 18–20, usually means the count moves with the calendar year rather than the location — some holidays fall on a fixed date, others are set annually.

Even so, the extremes are the exception, not the rule. Fifteen of the thirty countries in the table — Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, and Spain — sit between 10 and 14 a year. The 8s and the high-teens sit at the edges of a fairly narrow middle band.

What it means for employers

A higher public holiday count is paid time the business doesn’t get in exchange — it shows up as fewer working days per year for the same salary, not as an extra cost line. Coordinating a distributed team across countries with very different counts (8 in the Netherlands, 19 in the Philippines) means project timelines and cross-border delivery dates need slack for calendars that don’t line up.

It also affects planning around hiring and onboarding. Starting someone the week before a national holiday cluster, or scheduling a go-live across a country with a large regional split like India’s, is easier once the local calendar — not just the count — is in view. That is exactly what a country’s guide gives beyond this table.

Administering that correctly across many countries at once — which dates apply this year, whether a weekend substitute is owed, how the day sits alongside a leave policy — is exactly the kind of local detail an employer of record carries for you. Our guide to what an employer of record is explains where that responsibility sits when you don’t have an entity of your own in a country.

How to use this data

Public holidays are honestly not, in most countries, a separate line in the cost of employing someone — the paid day is already inside the salary, the same way a weekend is. What this table changes is planning: how many actual working days a salary buys in a given country, and when to expect the business to slow down.

For the cost side of a hire — salary plus the country’s employer on-costs — run the country through our employment cost calculator. It already covers India, Germany, Brazil, and several other countries in the table above. For the exact calendar — which days, and any that move each year — the country guide is the source to check before you plan around it.

If you’re weighing a single global time-off policy against matching each country’s statutory calendar, our guide to statutory employee benefits by country is the wider picture — leave, notice, and other legal minimums alongside the public holiday count covered here.

Frequently asked questions

Which country in this table has the most public holidays?

The Philippines, at 19 a year — the highest single figure stated in the table. Egypt’s guide gives a range of 18–20, which would be higher than the Philippines’ 19 in a year the top of that range applies, and Argentina’s range of 16–19 can also reach 19. Outside a range, the Philippines is the clear leader.

Which country has the fewest?

Australia, Mexico, and the Netherlands each have 8, tied for the fewest in the table. England, Wales, and Northern Ireland — grouped under the United Kingdom’s guide — also sit at 8, though the same guide states 10 for Scotland, so the United Kingdom as a whole isn’t a single-number country.

Do public holidays vary within a single country?

Yes, in several of the countries here. The United Kingdom splits by nation, Canada’s federal count varies by province, Switzerland’s ranges by canton, and India’s guide states 3 national holidays plus 7 to 14 state or festival days — the widest within-country spread in the table. Where that applies, check the specific region, not just the country total.

Are public holidays separate from annual leave?

Yes, they’re a distinct entitlement. Brazil’s and Spain’s guides make this explicit — both state an annual leave figure of 30 calendar days plus public holidays on top, not counted against it. Public holidays add paid non-working days beyond whatever the annual leave entitlement provides.

Does a higher public holiday count raise the cost of employing someone?

Not directly, in most countries. The paid holiday is already built into the salary, the same as a weekend — it isn’t a separate cost line the way statutory contributions or 13th-month pay are. What it changes is the number of working days a salary buys in a year, which matters for planning, not for the employer cost calculation itself. Use our cost calculator for the actual all-in figure.

Where do these figures come from?

Each figure is the public holiday count stated in our own country guides, checked July 2026. We only table a country here if its guide states a clear count; where a guide gives a range or notes regional variation, we show that as stated rather than picking one number. Open the country guide for a country’s exact calendar.