How Paid Vacation Differs Around the Globe

If you’ve ever wondered why you have trouble reaching your international colleagues, check your calendars. With different paid vacation time, it may seem that some professionals are out of the office more than others. Knowing more about their policies can help you understand when the best time is to schedule your communications.

The length of total paid leave that full-time employees are legally entitled to varies country to country. Several policies are described here, including the minimum amounts defined by government labor laws, with some employer-specific requirements.

According to the 2023 figures on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_by_country , South Koreans enjoy the highest number of paid days, at 30-40 annually. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s policy requires its workers to begiven 26-36 paid days yearly, depending on years of service and seniority. China has a range that varies between 16-26 for different industries. Singapore offers between 18-25 days. India’s workers enjoy 35 paid days per year. In Pakistan, employees (except contract and temporary workers) receive a minimum 14 days of paid annual leave after one year – which ranks among the lowest in the world.

Across Europe, the majority of countries guarantee workers a minimum of 20 days off every year. Spain provides 22 days guaranteed (and up to 36) days annually. Germany is slightly lower at 30 vacation days per year, while France offers 5 weeks. Within the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland mandate 5.6 weeks off annually. Denmark offers 25 days.

In Scandinavia, Swedes experience 34 days of paid annual leave; Norwegians experience 35 days and Finns, 36 days. In most provinces of Canada, employees receive a minimum of 2 weeks of vacation for every year of employment. In South America, Brazil offers 26-34 days. In Argentina, paid leave ranges from 14-35 days based on time with the company. Australia and New Zealand have generous policies as well, offering 30 and 32 days, respectively.

In South Africa, the policy is a little more complicated, entitling workers 21 consecutive days, or 1 day for every 17 days worked, or 1 hour for every 17 hours worked. In Egypt, employees may take up to 21 days of paid leave but must wait 6 months before taking their first day off.

[As a comparison, federal law in the United States does not require companies to provide any paid vacation time, though most employers to offer 10-14 days off per year as part of their compensation package.]

Knowing some countries offer significant paid leave, be sure to build in extra time when anticipating responses from international colleagues. If you are curious about other countries’ paid leave policies, go to the List of Minimum Annual Leave by Country on Wikipedia.