Which country gets the most paid vacation days?

Which country gets the most paid vacation days? In this ranking of 197 countries, Iran has the most paid vacation overall at 53 days, combining 26 days of statutory paid leave with 27 paid public holidays. The United States sits near the bottom: zero days of statutory paid leave and 10 paid vacation days in total, second-worst after Micronesia.

After years of gains in work-life balance, paid leave is fragmenting. Employers struggling to hire have raised pay, then found themselves understaffed with a steep payroll and little appetite for time off. In 2022, only 35% of U.S. organizations offered paid maternity leave, down from 53% two years earlier, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Paid paternity leave fell from 44% to 27% in the same period.

Workers are still absorbing the health fallout of the pandemic. COVID-19 prompted a 25% rise in anxiety and depression globally. Meanwhile governments are rewriting the calendar: some mandate paid leave for the sick and even for victims of domestic violence, while others resist adding bank holidays. MakeResume reviewed statutory paid leave and paid public holidays worldwide so you can see where the legal floor actually sits. Knowing your rights is the first step; taking the days you are owed is the second.

What We Did

MakeResume reviewed annual statutory paid leave and paid public holiday laws in 197 countries, using government sites, the OECD, the International Labour Organization, and similar sources. Countries were then ranked on the combined number of statutory paid leave days and paid public holidays per year.

Paid leave is the statutory minimum annual time off an employee can book. Vacation days in this ranking means paid leave plus paid public holidays combined.

Key Findings

• Iran has the most public holidays (27) in the world and the most paid vacation days overall (53).
• We found 23 countries with 30 days of paid leave per year, the highest number of paid leave available.
• The United States is the country with the joint fewest days of paid leave (0) and the second lowest number of paid vacation days in the world (10).

The U.S. is the Second-Worst Country for Paid Vacation Days, the Worst is Micronesia

African and Middle Eastern countries dominate the top of the table. Iran has the most statutory annual vacation days in the world (53), a clear week more than second-placed San Marino (46). Alongside 26 days of paid leave, Iran has nearly a month of public holidays (27 days), more than any other country. Religious holidays and days marking the Islamic Revolution help explain that total.

Panama, in joint 17th place, is the only North American country in the top 100. It has a relatively low public holiday count of 11 days, but a joint-top annual leave count of 30 days, so Panamanians are assured at least 41 days off each year. Workers there are also guaranteed a rest day of at least 24 consecutive hours each week, earning 150% of their regular rate and a bonus day off if required to work it.

Social progress on leave is not automatic. Research on work, rest, and health is one reason governments keep rewriting leave law, even when firms would rather keep desks filled.

The U.S. Has the World’s Least Paid Leave (Hint: It’s Zero)

Four weeks of leave is a common floor in much of the world, counted either as 20 working days or as a full month (28–30 days). We identified 22 countries with a 30-day leave plan, of which 10 are in Africa. The average by country is 18.2 days of paid leave per year.

The U.S. is at the bottom of the paid-leave table with zero statutory days. It is the only developed country with no statutory paid leave. Only the Pacific island countries of Nauru, Micronesia, and Kiribati match that zero. In the U.S., paid leave is at the employer's discretion. The average employee gets 14 days after their first year with a company, but 15% of civilian workers get no paid leave at all, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

San Marino is Europe’s Capital of Public Holidays

The U.S. has 10 “legal public holidays,” though private employers are not required to honor them with paid days off except in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. State and federal organizations and some private firms do award these days. Most private employers give paid time off for New Year's Day, Memorial Day (the last Monday in May), Independence Day, Labor Day (the first Monday in September), Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November), and Christmas Day. Juneteenth and the birthdays of Martin Luther King, Jr. and George Washington are less consistent.

The average number of paid public holidays from country to country is 11.8. We found six places with 20 or more, mainly in Asia. The exception is San Marino, whose 20 public holidays make it the most generous in Europe by a wide margin. Catholicism remains prominent there, and the calendar includes Christian commemorations plus days marking the republic's history.

Work-Life Balance Around the Calendar

Shorter hours tend to support higher output. Shorter hours are not a gift so much as a productivity tool, not least because depression costs the global economy around 12 billion workdays a year. As an employee, one of the easiest protections for mental health is to know your statutory leave and actually take it.

Experts note that work-life balance is a cycle, not a trophy. A four-week trip this year will not protect you if you feel too guilty to take leave next year. Regular time off is when you pause, rank what matters, and plan. When do you next intend to catch a breath?

Maintaining mental health takes ongoing effort. Breaks are not only rest. They are a chance to look at the career you are in and the one you might want next. If you are considering a move, time off is a better moment to update documents than a Sunday-night scramble. Browse resume templates, including simple layouts, then pair them with cover letter templates and cover letter examples in your field. The cover letter builder can hold structure while you write. Resume examples help you see how other people present the same kind of work.

Updating a resume during leave is not a contradiction. It is how you use rest to get ready for the next opening instead of burning out at the desk you already have. The same logic applies if you are comparing remote-work statistics or deciding whether a new country's leave laws would change your life more than a 5% raise.

Methodology and Sources

We reviewed data on laws governing annual statutory paid leave and paid public holidays in 197 countries. Countries were ranked on the combined number of statutory paid leave days and paid public holidays per year.

Information on leave laws came from government websites, the OECD, the International Labour Organization, Global Expansion, WageIndicator Foundation, Skuad, Papaya Global, and news reports and press releases.

Statutory leave laws were normalized to the minimum number of paid vacation days for an employee working a five-day, full-time week with minimum tenure. Where longer tenure earns more days, we listed the number after one year at the same company.

Holidays were standardized to the same five-day week. Only holidays that typically fall on a weekday, or that move to the following Monday when they fall on a weekend, were counted. Where the holiday calendar changes each year, we estimated a usual number of paid holidays.

Countries with no laws on minimum paid annual leave were treated as having zero days of statutory paid leave.

Frequently asked questions

Which country has the most paid vacation days?

Iran, with 53 paid vacation days in this ranking: 26 days of statutory paid leave plus 27 paid public holidays.

How much paid leave does the United States require?

None at the federal level. The U.S. has 0 days of statutory paid leave. Combined with public holidays as counted here, it has 10 paid vacation days, second-lowest in the world after Micronesia.

What is the difference between paid leave and vacation days in this study?

Paid leave is the statutory annual time off you can book. Vacation days here means that leave plus paid public holidays added together.

Do U.S. public holidays have to be paid days off?

Not for most private employers, except in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Many firms still pay New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

How many countries offer 30 days of paid leave?

23 countries have 30 days of paid leave, the highest amount in the dataset. A related count of 22 countries on a 30-day leave plan includes 10 in Africa. Country averages are 18.2 days of paid leave and 11.8 paid public holidays.