The hottest vacation period in Europe is underway. After all, everyone needs to rest from work and the opportunity to break out of the routine. However, is the number of paid vacation days enough to fully regenerate the strength? In today’s article, we will describe how the vacation leave in Europe looks like. How many vacation days are entitled to, in each country? Check out!
Vacation leave – why is it so important?
Continuous work can lead to a professional burnout or to an employee absenteeism, that is why it is so important that the employee can take a break from time to time. Taking a vacation can be beneficial for both the employee and the employer. Overwork threatens the deterioration of mental health, as well as physical health of the employee. In turn, the reduced effectiveness of the employed person usually results in worse results in the company.
We cannot, however, unequivocally say whether a vacation leave is a cure for the professional burnout. Nevertheless, its positive impact on the employee is noticeable, including:
- improvement of concentration
- stress reduction
- regaining / increasing satisfaction with life
- stimulating creative thinking
- alleviating the symptoms of professional burnout
So let’s check then, how many vacation days are entitled to, in individual European countries.
Vacation leave in Europe
In the table below, we present the number of vacation days entitled to, in individual European countries for persons with less than 10 years of employment.
| Country | Number of vacation days | Number of statutory days off | Total days |
| Poland | 20 | 13 | 33 |
| Germany | 25 | 14 | 39 |
| Netherlands | 20 | 9 | 29 |
| Belgium | 20 | 10 | 30 |
| France | 25 | 11 | 36 |
| Austria | 25 | 13 | 38 |
| Luxembourg | 25 | 10 | 35 |
| Switzerland | 20 | 9 | 29 |
| Norway | 21 | 10 | 31 |
| Denmark | 25 | 9 | 34 |
| Sweden | 25 | 10 | 35 |
| Finland | 20 | 11 | 31 |
| Iceland | 24 | 16 | 40 |
| Ireland | 20 | 9 | 29 |
| Spain | 22 | 14 | 36 |
| Portugal | 22 | 14 | 36 |
| Italy | 20 | 12 | 32 |
| Greece | 20 | 6 | 26 |
The number of vacation days in Europe (with the minimum amount of leave) oscillates between 20 and 25 days off. The following countries have the most free time: Germany, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Denmark and Sweden. Noteworthy is also Iceland, where there are 24 vacation days and as many as 16 statutory days off, which gives us in total 40 days off a year!
If you care about high earnings, as well as a long vacation leave
