European Countries With the Best Holiday Entitlements

As the Eurozone struggles with austerity, unsustainable debt loads and stagnant growth, a persistent topic of debate is what to do with generous allowances for vacation time. Employees in some European countries have it especially good, with generous government-mandated holiday entitlements that far surpass those of most countries outside the region.

With that in mind, we've put together a list of the top European countries with the highest number of mandated paid holidays per year, according to a 62-country report "Worldwide Benefit and Employment Guidelines" released by the human resources consulting firm Mercer.

The rankings are based on the minimum mandated holidays an employee is entitled to per year, not counting national holidays. (In cases where countries have the same number of statutory holidays we sorted them alphabetically.)

Some of the results may surprise you and some of the benefits may make you envious. Click ahead to find which European countries give their workers the most time off each year.

By Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani
Posted Sept 26 2012

Statutory holidays: 25
Public holidays: 11

In Sweden, employees are entitled to 19 days of paid annual leave after nine months of employment and 25 days after a year on the job. The country also mandates 11 hours of rest between shifts and has strict limits on the number of overtime hours employees may work — with a maximum of 50 overtime hours a month permitted over a period of four months.

Public holidays in Sweden are often referred to as "red days," printed in red on most calendars. It’s common for some businesses to shut operations at noon the day before a holiday.

Despite such generous benefits, the country has an unemployment rate of just 6.9 percent, lower than the European Union average of 9.8 percent in October 2011. Sweden is home to such global giants as Ikea, H&M and Ericsson.

Statutory holidays: 25
Public holidays: 10

Luxembourg is considered the richest country in Europe with its GDP per capita more than two and half times the European Union average, according to Eurostat.

Workers are entitled to 25 days of annual leave after being employed for one year, not including public holidays. If employees work on a public holiday, they are entitled to three times their standard salary for that day.

Luxembourg’s high living standards and reputation as a tax haven have attracted a number of international corporations such as ArcelorMittal, Skype and eBay to set up headquarters.

The country is also a big draw for cross-border workers due to its small size in comparison to neighboring Germany, Belgium and France, along with being home to many European institutions and foreign banks.

Statutory holidays: 25
Public holidays: 12

Despite Greece’s ongoing economic crisis, which has led to drastic salary cuts and austerity measures, the country still ranks within the top 10 nations when it come to vacation entitlements for workers.

Employees who have completed 10 years of service with the same employer or 12 years with different employers are entitled to 25 days of paid leave a year. Greek workers also have the second highest number of total working days off in the year (statutory holidays plus public holidays) at 37.

These generous benefits could come to an end with the IMF arguing that the government needs to do more to find cost savings and reduce its debt. The government has already cut public sector wages, with union groups claiming that salaries of state employees have been reduced as much as 70 percent in the past two years. Government figures show that nearly 10 percent of Greece’s 3.5 million private-sector workers have taken pay cuts. Last month, Greek unemployment hit a euro-era record high of 18.4 percent.

Statutory holidays: 25
Public holidays: 11

France is the largest economy to make the list of top 10 countries with the most generous holiday entitlements in the world.

The French government guarantees employees five weeks of paid vacation a year, not including public holidays. Most locals take their annual leave in July and August before the start of the new school year, leaving normally busy streets of metropolitan centers like Paris deserted, and businesses shuttered. Employees with three years’ seniority in a company, who have been employed for at least six years, also have the option take a sabbatical of six to 11 months.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos survey last year, French employees were found among workers from 24 countries to be the most likely to use all their holiday entitlements. Nearly 90 percent of French participants said they used up all of their vacation days, compared with only 57 percent in the U.S. and 33 percent in Japan.

Statutory holidays: 25
Public holidays: 10

Finland is home to one of the world’s most extensive welfare systems, which includes high-quality state-funded education, medical and employment benefits.

Workers are entitled to five weeks vacation a year, plus 10 public holidays. Most companies also provide Christmas Eve and Midsummer’s Eve in June as days off, even though the two are not officially recognized as public holidays. Finns are also entitled to up to nine months leave for a new child plus two years of unpaid childcare leave without losing their jobs. Workers can also take unpaid study leave for two years out of five.

In 2008, Finland made headlines after parliament member Tommy Tabermann proposed a bill to grant workers an additional week off for a “love vacation” in an effort reduce the country’s high divorce rates.

Statutory holidays: 25
Public holidays: 9

Often ranked among the best places to live in the world, Denmark has extremely generous benefits for employees and a strong belief in work-life balance. Workers are allotted at least 11 hours of rest daily by law and are allowed to work a maximum of six days in a week, according to the World Bank.

Companies often give five additional days of holiday to workers, on top of the 25 days for the year. The country also has generous benefits for young parents. Parents can split a total of 52 weeks of maternity or paternity leave per child, however they cannot take time off at the same time.

Yet despite its employment benefits, Denmark is also known as one of the easiest places in Europe to get fired. Under its "flexicurity" system, employers can freely choose to dismiss an employee as long as the termination is justified. Businesses also have no obligations to rehire former employees, and severance payments are not given to workers unless they have worked for at least 12 years.

Statutory holidays: 25
Public holidays: 13

Austria has among the highest number of public holidays in Europe with 13 days annually. Its capital, Vienna, also ranks as the world’s best city to live in, according to a separate Mercer ranking.

Employees can work a maximum of five and half days per week and are entitled to 25 days of annual vacation after only nine months employment, according to the World Bank. Mothers are entitled to a maximum of two years' maternity leave, while fathers can also claim parental pay for up to 36 months, but not at the same time as the mother.

But some Austrians are worried about slipping living standards and decreasing worker benefits after the country dropped visa barriers to workers from countries that joined the EU in 2004, namely Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, wants the country’s borders to stay shut until living standards in the new EU members reach at least 80 percent of Austrian levels.

Statutory holidays: 26
Public holidays: 11

Poland is the only eastern European country to make the list of countries with the best holiday entitlements.

Workers are entitled to 20 days' annual leave after nine months of employment and receive 26 days after working for 10 years. Despite these benefits, many Polish workers are drawn to western Europe, where wages are higher.

After the EU’s expansion in 2004, an estimated 1 million people from eastern Europe moved to Britain, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research, a British think tank. But with Poland’s unemployment rate at 11.8 percent in October, compared with above 20 percent seven years ago, and estimated GDP growth of 4 percent for 2011, many organizations and scholars argue that the migrants are now returning to the ex-communist state.

Government data show that remittances from Poles living in Germany reached $1.5 billion in 2010, whereas British-based Poles sent home more than $1.05 billion. Total remittances from Poles living abroad last year reached over $22 billion.

Statutory holidays: 28
Public holidays: 8

Workers in the United Kingdom are entitled to the highest number of holidays compared to anywhere else in the world.

However, vacation entitlements are often more complex in the UK, since the actual holiday provision depends on company contracts and the treatment of public holidays. While employees are entitled to 28 days, employers are allowed to include the eight public holidays as part of the 28-day package. Therefore, some workers actually have fewer vacation days than their European peers, where in general, public holidays are an addition to statutory days off.

While, the UK still has very generous holiday entitlements, it suffers from higher unemployment than such peers as Sweden and Denmark. Unemployment in Britain hit 8.3 percent in October, the highest level since 1994. Unions in the country are also threatening strikes as the government plans cuts to workers’ pensions and other austerity measures.