A new study has revealed which countries around the world got the most paid holiday days last year, with the results outlining which places are most likely to take the full amount of time off made available to them.
The poll, which was conducted on behalf of Expedia by Northstar, looked at the holiday habits of employed adults in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. The results found that a range of countries across Europe did well in terms of taking time off, with Spain, France and Finland all getting 30 days paid holidays that were fully taken. Brazil and the United Arab Emirates were found to also get and take an average of 30 days paid vacation. The USA came out behind, showing that while Americans received 15 paid vacation days from employers, on average only 12 days were taken. This adds up to approximately 375 million paid vacation days being wasted within the past year in the USA.
Workers in Asian countries were found to receive and take less holiday days on average, with South Koreans being given 15 days and taking only eight, while workers in Japan took ten out of a possible 20 available days. Malaysians took 12 out of a possible 16 days while Thai people were shown to take 12 out of 15 days.
|
Vacation Practices by Country | |||
|
Country |
Vacation Days Offered |
Vacation Days Taken |
Unused Days |
|
Australia |
20 |
15 |
5 |
|
Austria |
25 |
25 |
0 |
|
Belgium |
24 |
23 |
1 |
|
Brazil |
30 |
30 |
0 |
|
Canada |
15 |
14 |
1 |
|
Denmark |
25 |
25 |
0 |
|
Finland |
30 |
30 |
0 |
|
France |
30 |
30 |
0 |
|
Germany |
30 |
28 |
2 |
|
Hong Kong |
14 |
14 |
0 |
|
Ireland |
21 |
21 |
0 |
|
India |
21 |
15 |
6 |
|
Italy |
30 |
25 |
5 |
|
Japan |
20 |
10 |
10 |
|
Malaysia |
16 |
12 |
4 |
|
Mexico |
15 |
12 |
3 |
|
Netherlands |
25 |
22 |
3 |
|
New Zealand |
20 |
19 |
1 |
|
Norway |
25 |
25 |
0 |
|
Singapore |
18 |
14 |
4 |
|
South Korea |
15 |
8 |
7 |
|
Spain |
30 |
30 |
0 |
|
Sweden |
25 |
25 |
0 |
|
Switzerland |
25 |
25 |
0 |
|
Thailand |
15 |
12 |
3 |
|
UAE |
30 |
30 |
0 |
|
United Kingdom |
25 |
25 |
0 |
|
USA |
15 |
12 |
3 |
The survey also revealed interesting data regarding how workers viewed time off in relation to job perks, with additional holiday time coming in as the second most prized work incentive after flexible working hours for people in the US. Despite Spain coming out on top of the poll, 68% of the people studied felt that they were very or somewhat holiday-deprived, while 25% of US workers strongly felt that they deserved more time off.