Jobs and the Future of Work

In which countries do workers take all of their holiday leave?

Joe Myers
Writer, Forum Agenda

The answer: none. But Brits take the most of their paid holiday according to research conducted by YouGov. They also receive the second-highest average number of days of leave.

The following chart shows the percentage of workers who take all, or almost all, of their paid holiday, as well as the median number of days of paid leave.

1511B29-paid holiday annual leave UK Germany statista chart

Source: Statista

Following the United Kingdom is Germany, where 71% of workers take all of their paid holiday. The Germans also receive the highest average number of days off – 30 days a year. France at 62% (nearly 10 percentage points lower) completes the top three.

Four Asian nations appear in the middle of the list – China, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore – while the US and Australia are ranked at the bottom. In these countries, workers take only 44% and 43% of their holiday respectively.

Have you read?
Do women work longer days than men?
Which countries work the shortest hours – yet still prosper?
What working long hours does to your body

To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Author: Joe Myers is a Digital Content Producer at Formative Content.

Image: A woman enjoys the sun on the Promenade des Anglais REUTERS/Eric Gaillard 

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Future of Work

Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of Work is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

How ports can lead a just transition for workers in an automated future

Allyson Browne

November 14, 2024

2:25

Half of Iceland’s workers have moved to shorter working hours, such as a 4-day week

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum