7
Jun

Public Holidays

   Posted by: Past Contributers   in General, Light Hearted

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Which country provides its citizens with the highest number of public holidays?
Would you think it has to be a rich country to afford such luxury?
Well have a look, and you might be surprised.
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**** UPDATE ******
One of our visitors pointed out that Sri Lanka is in fact the leading country when it comes to public holidays.
According to the source he/she quoted Sri Lankans may enjoy up to 25 days of public holidays.
Of course the real number will vary as some of these holidays happen on weekends.
And so in 2005 people of Sri Lnka have 21 days off work (on top of all the customary weekends of course).
In 2004 it was only 16 days (must’ve been exhausting year).

Then come IRAN and NEPAL with 20 days of public holidays each!!
Well if you are thinking about migration to another country to improve your general welfare those three countries are no doubt the best choices.
If you are rich that is.
****************************

The following list is not complete.
I did not include a lot of countries which have between 10-11 days of holidays as it was probably the largest group.
One thing is certain wherever you go, do not settle in Vietnam, Mongolia or Romania – 5 days of public holidays each.
****************************
Sri Lanka 25

Iran 20
Nepal 20

Colombia 19
Lebanon 19
Bosnia 18
Myanmar 18

Costa Rica 17
Chile 16
Japan 16
Sweden 16

Haiti  15
Jordan 15
Laos   15
Mexico 15
Slovakia 15
South Korea 15
Austria 14
Azerbaijan 14
Bangladesh 14
Belarus 14
Guinea 14
Indonesia 14
Liberia 14
Malta 14
Panama 14
Portugal  14
Syria 14
Uruguay 14
Venezuela 14
Argentina   13
Armenia 13
Brazil  13
Cambodia 13
Cyprus 13
DominRepublic 13
Egypt  13
Georgia 13
Hungary 13
Paraguay 13
Slovenia 13
Thailand 13
Trinidad 13
Uganda 13
Angola 12
Brunei  12
Croatia 12
Czech Republic 12
Denmark 12
Finland 12
Greece 12
Iceland 12
India 12
Iraq 12
Italy 12
Luxembourg 12
Morocco 12
Philippines  12
South Africa 12
Spain 12
Ecuador 11
Latvia 11
North Korea 11
Norway 11
Uzbekistan 11
Zambia 11
Zimbabwe 11
Algeria 10
Australia 10
Belgium   10
Bulgaria   10
Canada 10
China 10
France 10
Germany  10
Honduras  10
Ireland 10
Kuwait 10
New Zealand 10
Oman 10
PNew Guinea 10
Peru 10
Poland 10
UArab Emirates 10
Estonia 9
Fiji  9
Israel 9
Lithuania  9
Moldova 9
Russia   9
Saudi Arabia 9
United States 9
Zaire 9
Afghanistan 8
Albania  8
Bahrain 8
Macedonia 8
Netherlands 8
Pakistan  8
Qatar 8
Switzerland 8
Bolivia 7
Cuba  7
Kosovo 7
Turkey 7
Ukraine 7
United Kingdom 7
Mongolia 5
Romania 5
Vietnam 5

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 at 9:57 am and is filed under General, Light Hearted. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

23 comments so far

Greta Perry
 1 

I guess I need to send my resume to Iran. Lots to do there on free vacation time!

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Felis
 2 

Greta,
Yes it is an exciting country isn’t it.
If you like wearing a nice hijab.

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 10:11 am
Patrick
 3 

We only get 1 more than the Yanks! Not good Felis, not good. :shock:

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
Felis
 4 

Paddy,

Not good Felis, not good

It is a shocker.
For all our hard work!
We need Kimbo in the PM’s office, I’m telling you.

Let’s think together what other holidays we should have.

How about – The Politician’s Day?
Come to think of it – week would be better.

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
TC
 5 

Sri Lanka topped the world with 26 public holidays, in addition to a five-day week and 45 days of annual leave.

Nepal is next with 24.

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 2:42 pm
Felis
 6 

Sri Lanka topped the world with 26 public holidays,

What’s the source?

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 3:23 pm
gindy
 7 

France was my first guess. I know this list is not complete (your words), but where would the US be?

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 3:43 pm
Felis
 8 

Gindy,
9-10 days at the bottom

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
TC
 9 

Try this:
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1251793.htm
or
http://www.pubad.gov.lk/Holidays/holidays.htm (there are 25 with 1 pending)
if the abc is too much of a leftie source.

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 4:16 pm
TC
 10 

Try this:
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1251793.htm
or
http://www.pubad.gov.lk/Holidays/holidays.htm (there are 25 with 1 pending)
if the abc is too much of a leftie source.

BTW, some states in Malaysia will probably be right up there because they celebrate 3 different religeous holidays as well as the usual ones.

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 4:20 pm
SA
 11 

The more Holidays … the lower the GNP? :shock:

[Reply]

June 7th, 2005 at 10:47 pm
TC
 12 

The 1st source, albeit from the ABC, was transcripted from a Sri Lankan minister’s spoken words.
The 2nd source happens to be the official Sri Lankan Government site. I’ll rest my case as well. Bend the rules to suit the purpose.

Imagine them, like we do here, giving another day if the public holiday falls on a Sunday?

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 12:21 am
patrickafir
 13 

heh We only get nine, huh? (I’m in the U.S.) Oh well. In a free society you have the opportunity to work for yourself and you could conceviably end up with most of the year off. Living in the decadent, capitalisitic, soulless West sure is nice.

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 5:20 am
Felis
 14 

TC,
giving another day if the public holiday falls on a Sunday
They probably should demand justice and the government should compensate the loss.

Sarge,

The more Holidays … the lower the GNP

I don’t think it matters in cases like Iran, Sri Lanka or Nepal.
Most people who work in those countries are farmers and they are probably not even aware that they have it so “good”.
The public holidays are for the benefit of all the public servants and, as in Iran case, the good Mullahs.

Patrick,

I’m in the U.S.

Oh, I know, I visit your blog frequently

Living in the decadent, capitalisitic, soulless West sure is nice.

It sure is.:lol:

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 7:56 am
SA
 15 

:mrgreen:

Most people who work in those countries are farmers and they are probably not even aware that they have it so “good”.

Point well taken! :wink:

Here in the decandent, capitalistic, infidelic West … until Corporate Farms started to become a shadow upon the land … a “farmer” and a “Holiday” were mutually exclusive? (… my bride is a “farmer’s daughter.”)

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 11:00 am
Felis
 16 

SA,

a “farmer” and a “Holiday” were mutually exclusive

Tha’s is so true.
ALmost a perfect oximoron.

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 11:55 am
seawitch1261
 17 

While the US officially has 9 public holidays, where I work we only have 7.

New Years
Mardi Gras
Memorial Day
July 4
Labor Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas

Kinda makes me want to move France or even New York. Nah, I couldn’t take all that political correctness.

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 12:37 pm
Felis
 18 

Seawitch,

where I work we only have 7

Oh, you poor impoverished thing.
We have 10 days in OZ and when one of the holidays happens on Sunday or Saturdays our generous state government gives us Monday off (this does not include Easter Sunday – we have Easter Monday off work as well).

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 12:48 pm
gindy
 19 

“Gindy,
9-10 days at the bottom ”

That sounds about right.

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
Felis
 20 

Gindy,

That sounds about right.

And mean and cruel as well.

[Reply]

June 8th, 2005 at 6:38 pm
Mitchy
 21 

Imagine working in Peru and having US holidays:sad:!!!!!
:mad: when everyone else makes holiday plans i’m at work!!!! all the time!!

[Reply]

June 25th, 2005 at 8:29 am
Felis
 22 

Mitchy,

Imagine working in Peru and having US holidays

True, it isn’t fair.
How many days of public holidays does Peru really have?
I only used very basic Internet “public holidays around the world finder” and so it is probably not very accurate.

[Reply]

June 26th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
gregor
 23 

The number for the UK is one more than in your list – we actually get 8 days: New Years Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday (end of May), Summer Bank Holiday (end of August), Christmas and Boxing Day. If any of the moveable days are on a weekend we get weekdays off in lieu. Plus normal vacation entitlement is 4 weeks – from day one on the job . . . much better than my US friends who have to ‘earn’ their vacation over many years on the job.

[Reply]

August 18th, 2005 at 4:17 pm

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