There is no defensible single global average for annual leave. Statutory minimums, contractual allowances, collectively agreed leave, and days actually taken are different measures. A country table can compare legal floors, but it should not turn unlike figures into one misleading worldwide average.
For a typical full-time employee, the statutory floor in this comparison ranges from no federal paid-vacation mandate in the United States to 30 days in Brazil and the UAE. Those endpoints are not a league table: zero mandated days does not mean US employees take zero vacation, and different counting conventions cannot be ranked directly.
:::note[Key takeaways]
- Most EU countries guarantee at least four weeks of paid annual leave.
- The UK guarantees 5.6 weeks; bank holidays may be included in that total.
- Australia and New Zealand guarantee four weeks for eligible employees.
- Canada’s federal rules start at two weeks after one year and rise with service, but most Canadian employees follow provincial or territorial rules.
- Japan and Singapore increase entitlement with service.
- The US has no federal paid-vacation requirement, although many employers provide it.
- Always separate annual leave from public holidays, sick leave, and employer-provided extras. :::
Statutory Annual Leave by Country
This table preserves the legal expression used by each official source. Equivalent conversions are included only where an authority supports them. Public holidays are excluded because their number and treatment vary independently.
The EU figures use Eurofound’s harmonised 2024 dataset, published in 2025. “2026” identifies this article edition and verification date, not a common observation year for every source.
| Country | Statutory paid annual leave | Basis and important limits | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 25 working days | Five-day-week equivalent in Eurofound’s harmonised EU comparison | Eurofound |
| France | 25 working days | Five weeks on a five-day basis; not 30 five-day working days | Eurofound |
| Germany | 20 working days | Five-day equivalent of 24 Werktage on a six-day basis | Eurofound |
| Ireland | 20 working days | Four weeks on a five-day basis | Eurofound |
| Luxembourg | 26 working days | Five-day-week basis | Eurofound |
| Netherlands | 20 working days | Four times the employee’s weekly working days | Eurofound |
| Portugal | 22 working days | Five-day-week basis | Eurofound |
| Spain | 22 working days | Normalised figure; the statute also uses a calendar-day formulation | Eurofound |
| Sweden | 25 working days | Five-day-week basis | Eurofound |
| United Kingdom | 5.6 weeks; normally 28 days | Five-day worker; bank holidays may be included | GOV.UK |
| Norway | 25 “working days” | Saturdays count, normally giving four weeks and one day | Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority |
| Australia | 4 weeks | Excludes casual employees; some shiftworkers receive 5 weeks | Fair Work Ombudsman |
| New Zealand | 4 weeks | Becomes due after 12 months’ continuous employment | Employment New Zealand |
| Canada | 2 weeks after 1 year | Federal jurisdiction only; 3 weeks after 5 years and 4 after 10 | Canada Labour Standards |
| United States | 0 federally mandated days | The FLSA does not require paid vacation; contracts and other rules may differ | US Department of Labor |
| Japan | 10 working days after 6 months | Requires at least 80% attendance; rises to 20 days with service | Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare |
| Singapore | 7 working days in year 1 | Applies after 3 months and rises to 14 days from year 8 | Ministry of Manpower |
| United Arab Emirates | 30 days after 1 year | Official guidance states 30 days for private-sector employees | UAE Government |
| Brazil | 30 calendar days | Full entitlement depends on attendance during the accrual period | Ministry of Labour and Employment |
| South Africa | 21 consecutive days | Equivalent to 15 working days for a five-day worker | Department of Employment and Labour |
Sources last verified 24 August 2026. These are statutory floors for typical reference employees, not legal advice or a substitute for checking the applicable law, contract, award, collective agreement, tenure, or working pattern.
Use the free Leave Entitlement by Country tool to compare two or three jurisdictions side by side.
Why There Is No Reliable Global Average
An “average annual leave by country” can mean at least four different things:
- Statutory minimum: the floor set by law for an eligible employee.
- Contractual or collectively agreed entitlement: the allowance in a contract, award, or collective agreement, which can exceed the law.
- Employer-provided entitlement: especially important in the US, where provision is common despite no federal minimum.
- Leave actually taken: a behavioural measure affected by workload, culture, carry-over, sickness, and whether employees can afford time away.
Even high-quality international research cannot always align the population and reference year for every country. The OECD’s review of actual leave taken, for example, combines different employee populations and observation years. It is useful evidence about working-time behaviour, but it should not be relabelled as a current 2026 worldwide average.
Every average should name the metric, population, reference year, and source. If those four details are missing, do not use it for policy or benchmarking.
How to Read the Country Figures Correctly
Working days, calendar days, and weeks are different units
Germany’s 24-day statutory wording assumes a six-day working week, which Eurofound normalises to 20 days for a five-day employee. Norway also counts Saturdays. Brazil and the UAE use calendar-day formulations. A raw sort from highest to lowest would create false precision.
For policy configuration, store the entitlement in its native unit and convert it using the employee’s working pattern. This is safer than hard-coding one annual number for everyone.
Public holidays should stay separate
Adding public holidays to annual leave creates another false ranking. Calendars vary by year, region, religion, substitute-day rules, and whether the employee would normally work that day.
The UK illustrates the problem: an employer may include bank holidays inside the 5.6-week statutory total. Australia generally treats a public holiday that falls during annual leave as a public holiday rather than deducting it from the annual-leave balance. The two systems cannot be compared by simply adding a national holiday count.
For Europe, use our public holidays comparison alongside the leave table instead of combining the figures.
Eligibility and tenure change the headline number
Japan grants 10 days after six months to an employee meeting the attendance threshold, then increases the grant with service. Singapore starts at seven days and increases annually. Canada’s federal entitlement steps up after five and ten consecutive years. Australia excludes casual employees from the National Employment Standards annual-leave entitlement.
The country alone is therefore not enough to calculate a balance. You also need employment status, start date, working pattern, and sometimes attendance or sector.
The legal floor is not always the normal allowance
Collective agreements frequently raise annual leave above the statutory floor in Europe. In the US, the legal federal floor is zero, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics separately measures employer-provided paid vacation. Neither figure should replace the other: one describes the law and the other describes benefit access.
For a deeper normalised view of the EU27, see annual leave across Europe. We also maintain regional comparisons for Asia, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and Latin America.
A Multi-Country Annual Leave Checklist
Use this sequence when you add a country or review a global policy:
- Identify the governing law. Confirm the employee’s place of work, legal employer, employment status, sector, and any award or collective agreement.
- Record the entitlement in its legal unit. Keep weeks, working days, and calendar days distinct.
- Model eligibility and service steps. Capture qualifying periods, attendance thresholds, and tenure-based increases.
- Separate public holidays. Assign the correct national or regional calendar without deducting days incorrectly.
- Define accrual and carry-over. Record when leave becomes available, expiry rules, employer notices, and protected carry-over.
- Set the holiday-pay rule. Entitlement and pay are separate calculations in many jurisdictions.
- Keep a source and review date. Laws and official guidance change; every policy needs an owner and scheduled review.
Avoid claiming that one “global minimum” makes every policy compliant. A generous allowance can still fail if the employer applies the wrong pay basis, expiry rule, notice, or public-holiday treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average number of annual leave days worldwide?
There is no single reliable worldwide average. Statutory entitlements, employer-provided allowances, and days actually taken measure different things and are not available on one consistent global basis.
Which country has the most annual leave?
There is no defensible winner without choosing a counting method and reference employee. Thirty calendar days is not automatically more generous than 25 working days, and public holidays should not be added without checking local rules.
Is annual leave mandatory in the United States?
Federal law does not require paid vacation for most employees. Employers can provide it by agreement, and other federal, state, local, or contractual rules may apply.
Are public holidays included in annual leave?
It depends on the country and contract. UK employers may include bank holidays within the 5.6-week statutory entitlement. Other jurisdictions treat public holidays separately.
Should a global employer use one leave allowance everywhere?
A common company allowance can be a useful benefit, but each country still needs local rules for eligibility, accrual, pay, carry-over, public holidays, evidence, and termination.
Build Policies From Sources, Not Rankings
Country comparisons are a starting point. The operational work begins when you translate each official rule into an entitlement, eligibility trigger, public-holiday calendar, carry-over setting, and pay process that matches the employee’s circumstances.
Leave Balance lets teams maintain country-specific leave policies and calendars in one place without a separate spreadsheet for every location. It does not replace jurisdiction-specific legal review, but it makes the approved policy easier to apply consistently.