In most industrialised nations, advances in employee relations have seen the introduction of statutory minimum tariffs for employee leave from work, i.e. the amount of entitlement to paid holiday/vacation. Several companies will offer contractually more time, depending on the sector. Companies and the law may also differ as to whether national holidays are counted as part of the minimum leave. Disparities in national minimums are still subject of debate regarding Work-life balance and perceived differences between nations.
| Country | Legally required minimum leave |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 14 calendar days (from 0 to 5 years seniority), 21 calendar days (from 5 to 10), 28 calendar days (from 10 to 20) and 35 calendar days (from 20) |
| Australia | 4 weeks standard, plus 10 public holidays. 5 weeks for shift-workers (those regularly rostered across a 7 day week). 2 weeks can be "sold" to employer (cashed-out). Additional Long service leave is also payable. |
| Austria | 5 weeks |
| The Bahamas | 14 days after 1 year employment, 21 day after 5 years employment |
| Belgium | 20 days, premium pay, plus 12 public holidays |
| Brazil | 30 consecutive days after 1 year employment, of which 10 can be sold back to the employer |
| Bulgaria | 20 working days and up to 12 days national and public holidays |
| Canada | Determined by provincial law. 14–28 working days depending on province and tenure of employment. In addition, 5–10 public holidays depending on province.[1] |
| Chile | 15 working days |
| China | 5 working days (from 1 to 9 years seniority), 10 working days (from 10 to 19), 15 working days (from 20 years onwards). |
| Colombia | 15 working days for every year, vacations can be accumulated for up to 4 years (up to 60 working days of vacations) |
| Costa Rica | 2 weeks after 1 year employment. |
| Croatia | 20 working days. Saturdays can be included even if company offices are not open on Saturdays. This is left for employers and employees to agree. |
| Cyprus | 20 working days of leave for workers on a five-day week and 24 working days of leave for workers on a six-day week over a period of one year's employment. |
| Czech Republic | 4 weeks |
| Denmark | 25 work days, plus 9 public holidays |
| Dominican Republic | 14 work days after one year employment, 20 work days after 5 years employment. |
| Estonia | 28 calendar days (public holidays not included), unless employer and employee agree over a longer vacation; up to 56 calendar days for selected education and science professionals (determined by government decree). |
| Ecuador | 14 days |
| Finland | 5 weeks (30 days with Saturdays, but not Sundays counted as holidays) is the minimum mandated by law. More precisely: vacation is accrued between April to March each year and used primarily during the following summer holiday period. During each such full period 2.5 vacation days are accrued per month. When taking up a new job, only 2 days are accrued until the start of the first full period. Many trade unions have been able to agree for more vacation time for their profession |
| France | 5 weeks[2] (+ 2 weeks of RTT (Reduction du Temps de Travail, in English : Reduction of Working Time) for the employees that choose to work 39 hours per week instead of 35), plus about 10 national holidays (usually not paid with the exception of the 1st of May). For public employees and some companies like Orange, the total is of 9 paid vacation weeks (5 weeks of vacation + 4 weeks of RTT) |
| Germany | 4 working weeks (24 workdays for a 6-day-workweek; 20 work days for the standard 5-day-workweek), plus 9 to 13 bank holidays.[3] |
| Greece | 20 working days or more depending on the years in the company |
| Guatemala | 2 working weeks |
| Hong Kong | 7 days[4] |
| Hungary | 20 working days (increasing up to 30 with age) |
| Iceland | 24 days[5], not including 13 official holidays. |
| Ireland | 4 working weeks (20 days if working full time), plus 9 public holidays |
| Iran | 4 weeks |
| India | 1 work day for every 20 days worked (around 12 work days a year)[6] |
| Israel | From 10 working days for the first year to 24 days for 14th year and on, not including official holidays, sick leave, etc. |
| Italy | At least 20 working days (exact amount depends on contract details, a few contracts guarantee up to 25 days), entirely paid, plus up to 104 hours of ROL, that means reduction of working time (in Italian Riduzione Orario di Lavoro), that have to be used primarily in blocks of a few hours each time for family/personal needs (for example bringing a kid to the doctor, going to the bank etc.) but may be utilized as well, just for the unused part of them and just if the company/the collective contract allows that, to get additional vacation hours/days, or to shorter of 1 or 2 hours the working day on Fridays. Furthermore, there are 12–13 paid public holidays. |
| Japan | From 10 working days for the first year to 20 days for the 6th year.[7] |
| Jersey | 2 weeks[8] |
| Kazakhstan | 24 calendar days[9] |
| Korea, South | 10 working days |
| Latvia | 4 weeks |
| Lithuania | 28 calendar days.[10] |
| Luxembourg | At least 25 working days; 10 public holidays.[11] |
| Malaysia | Starts at 8 days for first 2 years employment with an employer. Increases to 12 days for between 2 and 5 years employment and 16 days for 5 or more years. Plus, depending on which state, around 14 public holidays. |
| Malta | 24 working days (192 hours) |
| Mexico | Starts at minimum 6 days for the 1 year of employment. Increases to 8 days after the second year, to 10 days after the third year, 12 days after the fourth year, and to 14 days from year 5 to year 9; then every 5 years increases two days. |
| Namibia | 21 consecutive days, or 1.75 days for every 1 month worked, plus 14 days paid public Holidays. Some companies do increase leave amounts, depending on how long the employee has worked at the company. |
| Netherlands | 4 weeks plus 9 public holidays |
| New Zealand | 4 weeks as of April 1, 2007, plus 11–12 paid public holidays, depending on which day they fall. |
| Norway | 25 working days |
| Pakistan | 15 working days |
| Paraguay | 14 days |
| Panama | 30 consecutive days plus 10 paid public holidays. |
| Peru | 14 days |
| Philippines | 5 days, rendered at least 1 year of service is entitled to a yearly service incentive leave. |
| Poland | 20 working days (to 10 years of employment) and 26 working days (after 10 years of employment) in 5-days-workweek. Plus 13 days of the public holidays. |
| Portugal | 22 working days, up to 25 without work absences in previous year. |
| Puerto Rico | 15 days |
| Romania | 21 working days |
| Russia | 28 calendar days (52 in extreme north regions) {for militaries 30/45 days except for drafted}, plus 12 public holidays (they neither count nor pay)[12] There is the 10-nonbankdays streak in January (6 of them are holidays). |
| Serbia | 20 working days minimum (effectively 4 weeks, law defines working week as 5 working days for purpose of paid vacation), plus 9 bank holidays and up to two more days depending on religion of employee. |
| Saudi Arabia | 30 days |
| Singapore | For regular employees, 7 days with 1 additional day per year up to a maximum of 14 days. No statutory minimum leave for seamen, domestic workers, or employees in managerial or executive positions.[13] |
| Slovakia | 20 days, 25 days after 15 years of employment |
| Slovenia | 20 working days of leave and 13 public holidays. |
| South Africa | 21 consecutive days, or 1 day for every 17 days worked, or 1 hour for every 17 hours worked,[14] not including 12 public holidays.[15] Regular workers may take a further 3 days of family responsibility leave.[16] Leave legislation does not apply to members of the National Defence Force, National Intelligence Agency, South African Secret Service or unpaid volunteers working for a charity. |
| Spain | 22 work days, not including 14 public holidays.[17] (It is important to note that the workday in Spain totals nine hours: eight hours of work plus one lunch hour.) |
| Sri Lanka | 28 working days: 14 maximum annual, 7 casual, and 7 sick leave.[18] |
| Sweden | 25 work days minimum |
| Switzerland | At least 20 work days, plus 12–16 public holidays (some of which always fall on a Sunday) |
| Taiwan | 7 days |
| Tanzania | 28 calendar days |
| Thailand | 6 calendar days[19] |
| Turkey | 12 work days |
| Tunisia | 30 work days |
| Ukraine | 24 calendar days |
| United Kingdom | 5.6 weeks (28 work days), including 8 public holidays[20] |
| United States | None.[21] Certain employers, including those with 50 or more employees in a locale and public sector employers, must give up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for personal or family illness, or for the birth or placement of a child.[22] |
| Uruguay | 20 working days (from 0 to 5 years seniority), 21 calendar days (from 5 to 8). Afterwards, an additional working day is added every four years.[23] |
| Venezuela | 15 paid days for the first year and 1 day extra for every year of service up to 30 days. In addition, a maximum of 12 public holidays provided every holiday falls on a weekday. |
| Vietnam | 10 working days. |