Paid days off in Europe 2026
The law guarantees between 26 and 35 paid days off a year in Europe once annual leave and the public holidays that fall on working days in 2026 are added together, for a full-time employee working five days a week.
Annual leave plus public holidays
The most days: Austria and Malta, with 35. The fewest: the Netherlands, with 26. The median is 30 days. In the United Kingdom the law gives 20 days of leave and 8 public holidays fall on working days in 2026, 28 days in all.
Show the data as a table
| Country | Annual leave | Holidays on weekdays | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 25 | 10 | 35 |
| Malta | 24 | 11 | 35 |
| France | 25 | 9 | 34 |
| Cyprus | 20 | 13 | 33 |
| Iceland | 20 | 13 | 33 |
| Luxembourg | 26 | 7 | 33 |
| Bulgaria | 20 | 12 | 32 |
| Denmark | 25 | 7 | 32 |
| Greece | 22 | 10 | 32 |
| Finland | 25 | 7 | 32 |
| Sweden | 25 | 7 | 32 |
| Czechia | 20 | 11 | 31 |
| Latvia | 20 | 11 | 31 |
| Portugal | 22 | 9 | 31 |
| Romania | 20 | 11 | 31 |
| Lithuania | 20 | 10 | 30 |
| Estonia | 20 | 9 | 29 |
| Spain | 22 | 7 | 29 |
| Croatia | 20 | 9 | 29 |
| Ireland | 20 | 9 | 29 |
| Norway | 21 | 8 | 29 |
| Belgium | 20 | 8 | 28 |
| Switzerland | 20 | 8 | 28 |
| United Kingdom | 20 | 8 | 28 |
| Hungary | 20 | 8 | 28 |
| Poland | 20 | 8 | 28 |
| Slovakia | 20 | 8 | 28 |
| Germany | 20 | 7 | 27 |
| Italy | 20 | 7 | 27 |
| Slovenia | 20 | 7 | 27 |
| Netherlands | 20 | 6 | 26 |
Leave is similar, holidays are not
20 countries set the legal minimum at 20 days, the four weeks required by EU law; the most is 26 days (Luxembourg). Public holidays make the bigger difference: in 2026, 13 fall on working days in Cyprus and Iceland, against 6 in the Netherlands.
What it means
These are legal minimums. Collective agreements and contracts often give more, and some days count only with seniority. Holidays that fall on a weekend are lost in some countries and moved to a weekday in others, so the total changes from year to year.
Sources and method
- PayAbacus annual leave calculators with each country’s 2026 rules and public holiday calendars (the official sources are listed on each calculator page).
- Legal minimum for a full-time employee on a 5-day week; national public holidays only, regional holidays not counted.
- In the United Kingdom the statutory 28 days include the bank holidays.