Ever Wondered How Much Annual Leave Other Countries Get?
There’s a few things that genuinely rule about becoming a real adult with a proper job, and annual leave has to take the cake.
Depending on where in the world you live though, you might not be so lucky – the average number of days allowed for paid leave varies significantly from place to place. So how does Australia stack up against other countries? A new Expedia study has looked at the holiday habits of employed adults in Europe, Asia, North America and South America to find out.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Europeans come out on top, because they are apparently the masters of leisure. Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Finland all give their citizens 30 days of paid leave per year, matched only by the United Arab Emirates outside of Europe.
Interestingly too, western European nations are far more likely to actually take all their days of annual leave each year, with France and Spain both having 30 days of leave per year and taking every single one. Because apparently, YOLO is Latin for “day off”.
Australia came in slightly lower on the list with 20 days of annual leave per year, however on average, we only take advantage of 15 of them, which is pretty typical of countries in Australasia. The USA placed even further down the list, with citizens allowed 15 days of paid leave per year but only taking 12 on average.
Check out the full list of the countries surveyed below, and keep in mind that these days of paid leave don’t include public holidays or weekends.
The paid leave allocation per country:
#1 Spain, Italy, France, UAE, Germany, Finland, Brazil – 30 days per year
#2 United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria – 25 days per year
#3 Belgium – 24 days per year
#4 India, Ireland – 21 days per year
#5 Australia, Japan, New Zealand – 20 days per year
#6 Singapore – 18 days per year
#7 Malaysia – 16 days per year
#8 Unites States, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand – 15 days per year
#9 Hong Kong – 14 days per year
This post was originally published on November 18th, 2016 and has since been updated.
