Sweden gives employees 15 public holidays in 2026. The UK gives as few as 8. And in every country compared here except the UK, those holidays sit outside statutory annual leave — they never reduce it. This comparison lines up public holiday totals across 14 European countries for 2026, using the same sourced calendars behind our individual country pages, and shows which countries treat public holidays as strictly additional and which leave the answer to the contract.
This is the fourth in our European comparison series, alongside sick leave across Europe, parental leave across Europe, and statutory annual leave across Europe. Together they cover the leave questions that come up most often for anyone hiring or managing staff in more than one European country.
:::note[Key takeaways]
- Sweden has the most public holidays covered here (15 in 2026); the UK has the fewest (8 in England and Wales, 9 in Scotland, 10 in Northern Ireland).
- Public holidays are additional to statutory annual leave in every country compared here except the UK, where bank holidays can be counted inside the 5.6-week (28-day) minimum if the contract allows it.
- Germany, Spain, Austria, and France all add regional or state-level holidays on top of a national base calendar.
- Ireland is the only country here with a specific legal formula: a paid day off, a paid day off within a month, an extra day of annual leave, or an extra day’s pay for each public holiday.
- The Netherlands is the only country where paid time off for a public holiday is not a statutory right at all — it exists almost everywhere in practice through contracts and collective agreements, but it isn’t guaranteed by law.
- Weekend substitution isn’t universal: the UK moves a holiday to the next Monday; Poland and Denmark do not. :::
Public Holidays Across Europe: 2026 Country-by-Country Table
Public holiday counts below come from our own sourced public holiday pages for each country. Statutory annual leave figures come from our Annual Leave Across Europe comparison, which uses Eurofound’s harmonised five-day-week dataset.
| Country | Public holidays (2026) | Statutory annual leave | Additional to, or inside, annual leave? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 13 | 25 days | Additional |
| Denmark | 12 | 25 days | Additional |
| Finland | 14 | 20 days | Additional |
| France | 11 nationally (12 in Alsace-Moselle) | 25 days | Additional |
| Germany | 9 nationally (up to 13 in Bavaria) | 20 days | Additional |
| Ireland | 10 | 20 days | Additional (statutory formula — see below) |
| Italy | 12 | 20 days | Additional |
| Netherlands | 11 | 20 days | Additional (but not itself a statutory right) |
| Norway | 11 | 25 working days | Additional |
| Poland | 13 | 20 days | Additional (no weekend substitute) |
| Portugal | 13 | 22 days | Additional |
| Spain | 14 (8 national, 4 regional, 2 local) | 22 days | Additional |
| Sweden | 15 | 25 days | Additional |
| United Kingdom | 8 (England & Wales); 9 Scotland; 10 N. Ireland | 5.6 weeks (usually 28 days) | Can be inside — depends on the contract |
Figures are for 2026. Regional and religious-observance holidays can shift these totals for specific employees — check the country page for the full list and sources.
Germany: A National Floor With Big Regional Swings
Germany’s Federal Leave Act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz) never counts a public holiday against the 20-day statutory minimum — the two are always separate. What varies is the calendar itself: 9 holidays apply nationwide, while Bavaria observes as many as 13 and other states sit in between. An employer with staff in Munich and Hamburg is not looking at the same public holiday calendar, even though both teams have the same annual leave minimum. See the Germany public holidays page for the full 2026 breakdown by state.
Ireland: One Entitlement, Four Ways to Deliver It
Ireland is the most prescriptive country in this comparison. Under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, an employer must give an employee one of four things for each public holiday: a paid day off on the day itself, a paid day off within a month, an extra day of annual leave, or an extra day’s pay. Whichever option is used, the day is always additional to the employee’s 20-day statutory annual leave — there is no route by which a public holiday can be absorbed into it. Ireland has 10 public holidays in 2026; see the Ireland public holidays page for dates.
Netherlands: The One Country Where It Isn’t a Legal Right at All
Most countries in this comparison guarantee paid time off for public holidays by statute. The Netherlands does not. There is no general statutory obligation to give employees paid time off on a public holiday — it depends entirely on the employment contract or the applicable collective labour agreement (CAO). In practice, nearly every Dutch employer provides it, but if a contract or CAO is silent, the day off is not automatically guaranteed. Either way, a Dutch public holiday never reduces the 20-day statutory vacation entitlement — that part of the comparison holds even without a specific statute behind it. Full 2026 dates are on the Netherlands public holidays page.
United Kingdom: The Outlier — Bank Holidays Can Sit Inside Annual Leave
The UK breaks the European pattern. There is no separate statutory entitlement to bank holidays at all — they are simply part of the 5.6-week (28-day for a full-time worker) minimum under the Working Time Regulations 1998. An employer can choose to count some or all of the UK’s 8 bank holidays (England and Wales; 9 in Scotland; 10 in Northern Ireland) inside that total rather than on top of it. Whether an employee gets bank holidays as extra paid days off, or simply takes them out of an existing leave balance, comes down to the wording of the contract — not to any general legal right. See the UK public holidays page for the 2026 dates by nation.
Key Patterns Across Europe
Regional variation is common. Germany, Spain, Austria, and France all layer state, regional, or local holidays on top of a national base calendar. If you have employees in more than one region of any of these countries, one national calendar will not cover everyone correctly.
Everywhere except the UK, public holidays are additional. Only the UK treats public holidays as something that can be folded into annual leave. Every other country in this comparison keeps the two entitlements legally distinct, even where — as in the Netherlands — the public holiday itself isn’t backed by its own statute. We confirmed this directly against statute or an official government source for Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and France; for the remaining countries it holds consistently across every official and professional source we checked, with no exceptions found.
Weekend substitution isn’t universal. When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the UK moves the holiday to the following Monday. Poland and Denmark do not — the day is simply lost for employees who don’t already work weekends. Check the specific country rule before assuming a “day in lieu” applies anywhere you operate.
Practical Tips for Multi-Country Employers
- Keep public holidays and annual leave as separate policy fields. Even in the one country where they can overlap (the UK), the two are still tracked as distinct entitlements underneath — don’t merge them into a single number in your system.
- Track regional variants separately from the national calendar, especially for Germany, Spain, Austria, and France.
- Confirm whether a “day in lieu” applies before assuming a weekend public holiday shifts to the next working day.
- Refresh every country’s calendar annually. Dates move with the calendar (Easter-linked holidays especially), and some governments adjust observed dates when a holiday falls on a weekend.
- Document the source for each country’s calendar so a compliance question can be answered in minutes, not days.
How Leave Balance Helps You Manage Public Holidays Across Europe
Running public holidays correctly across several European countries means tracking a different calendar, a different set of regional exceptions, and a different rule on weekend substitution for each one — while keeping every one of them separate from each employee’s annual leave balance.
Leave Balance ships with pre-loaded, sourced public holiday calendars for the countries in this comparison, configurable per region so employees in Bavaria and Berlin — or Catalonia and Madrid — see the calendar that actually applies to them. Employees can check upcoming holidays and submit leave requests from Slack or Microsoft Teams, and managers get one dashboard across every country instead of a spreadsheet per region.
At a flat $10/month for unlimited employees across unlimited countries, adding another European market doesn’t add another line item. Start a 14-day free trial — no credit card required.