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In 2026, Lithuania and Romania lead with 16 national public holidays each, followed by Albania, Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Slovenia with 15. At the other end, Spain and England and Wales have 8, and Switzerland has only 4 national holidays, although its cantons add many more.

Size matters too: the ten largest economies in this comparison average 10.3 public holidays in 2026, against 11.9 across all 37 countries.

Counting holidays is not the same as counting days off. A holiday on a Saturday gives no day off unless the law moves it to a weekday. In 2026, Albania gets 15 days off from its holidays because it moves weekend holidays to Monday. Latvia and Bulgaria follow with 13.

Lithuania has the most holidays but 6 of them fall on a weekend in 2026, so Lithuanians get 10 days off. Latvians get 3 more.

Less than you might think, but still a lot. A study by economists Rosso and Wagner found that each extra working-day holiday reduces annual GDP by about 0.08%. That is roughly half of what a simple “one lost working day” calculation suggests, because shops, restaurants and travel earn more on holidays and some work is made up later.

On that conservative basis, one public holiday costs Germany about €3.6 billion, Lithuania about €67 million and Latvia about €34 million. Across all 37 countries, public holidays cost an estimated €160 billion in 2026, more than the entire annual GDP of Slovakia.

Per resident, the picture changes: in 2026 public holidays cost about €240 per person in Latvia, €232 in Lithuania, €219 in Estonia and €300 in Germany, but over €700 in Iceland and Luxembourg, where output per person is much higher.

Other estimates are higher. Germany’s ifo Institute puts one holiday at about €8 billion, and the ZEW Mannheim institute gives a range of 0.055% to 0.28% of GDP. Holidays also bring benefits GDP does not measure: the same study links them to fewer work accidents and higher short-term happiness.

Sources: Rosso and Wagner via Euronews (April 2026); ifo Institute (May 2025); ZEW Mannheim (2026).

One day in three. In 2026, at least one of the 36 countries that observe public holidays is off on 122 days. On the other 243 days, nobody in Europe has a public holiday.

Imagine travelling every working day to a country with a public holiday. You could skip 81 of the year’s 261 working days, almost four months of work. The longest unbroken run of holidays somewhere in Europe is 7 days, from 27 May to 2 June 2026; in 2028 it is 9 days, from 1 to 9 May. The longest stretch with no holiday anywhere is 16 days, from 8 to 23 January 2026, and 20 days in April 2027, when Western and Orthodox Easter fall far apart.

More than they cost the economy. For a company, a public holiday on a weekday is a fully paid day with no work, while the wider economy partly makes up the output. Each such day is about 0.4% of annual payroll.

In 2026, employers in Latvia and Bulgaria pay about 5.0% of annual payroll for public holidays, in Albania 5.7%, in Lithuania 3.8% and in Germany 2.7%. The European average is 3.5%. At the EU’s average labour cost of €34.90 per hour, one public holiday costs about €279 per employee, or roughly €2,500 per employee per year.

Only holidays on weekdays cost employers money; a holiday on a Saturday or Sunday costs nothing. That is why the cost changes from year to year. In Latvia, 13 holidays fall on weekdays in 2026 but only 9 in 2027, so employers pay about 30% less for public holidays in 2027.

Seen this way, public holidays are one of the most valuable benefits employees receive. The state decides them, employers pay for them, and employees rarely think of them as a benefit at all.

Sources: MELP calculation; Eurostat hourly labour costs 2025 (March 2026).

Public holidays on weekdays are paid days off. For a worker on an average salary in 2026, they are worth about €1,170 a year in Lithuania (average gross salary €2,554 a month, 10 paid holidays), €1,130 in Latvia (€1,886, 13 holidays) and €930 in Estonia (€2,243, 9 holidays).

There is a real price tag for comparison. When Denmark abolished Great Prayer Day, workers received a 0.45% pay rise in return for one extra working day. On that basis, Latvia’s 13 paid holidays equal a raise of about 5.9%, Lithuania’s 10 about 4.5% and Estonia’s 9 about 4.1%.

Without public holidays, employees on a monthly salary would not automatically earn more; they would work more days for the same pay. That is exactly why public holidays are best understood as a benefit.

Sources: State Data Agency of Lithuania (Q1 2026); Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia (Q2 2026); Statistics Estonia (Q2 2026); Danish Ministry of Finance via Brussels Times.

Some work never stops: shops, hospitals, logistics, factories. In the Baltic countries, the law makes sure it is worth it. Working on a public holiday is paid at least double in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and in all three it can be swapped for paid time off instead. Lithuania goes furthest: an employee generally has to agree before working on a public holiday at all.

The Baltic countries also share a small, little-known perk: the working day before a public holiday is shorter. In Lithuania and Latvia it ends an hour early. Estonia gives three hours off, but only before four days: New Year, Independence Day, Victory Day and Christmas Eve.

Elsewhere, the rules can be surprisingly different. In Germany, working on public holidays is in principle banned, with exceptions for essential services; the law sets no extra pay, so premiums come from collective agreements, and much of that premium is tax-free. In France, 1 May is the only day the law guarantees as a paid day off, with double pay for anyone who must work; every other holiday depends on agreements. And in the United Kingdom there is no legal right to have bank holidays off or to earn extra for working them. It all comes down to the employment contract.

General information, not legal advice. Collective agreements and contracts can be more generous.

Yes. Denmark abolished Great Prayer Day (Store Bededag), a holiday since 1686, from 2024 to help fund defence. The Danish finance ministry estimated it would add DKK 9.4 billion (about €1.3 billion) to GDP each year, and workers received a 0.45% pay rise in compensation. Over 400,000 people signed a petition against it.

In Germany, the ifo Institute proposed the same in 2025. A Forsa poll found 65% of Germans against it.

Sources: Brussels Times; AP; ifo Institute; Forsa for Stern.

Because more holidays fall on weekends. Across Europe, 74% of public holidays fall on working days in 2026 but only 64% in 2027. The average country loses more than one day off. Latvia drops from 13 working-day holidays in 2026 to 9 in 2027 and 8 in 2028.

For employers it is the opposite: the 2027 calendar adds about €19 billion of working time across the 37 countries compared with 2026.

Only a few: the United Kingdom, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, North Macedonia and Serbia move weekend holidays to a weekday, and Latvia regularly transfers working days to create long weekends. In most of Europe, a holiday on a Saturday or Sunday is simply lost.

Only one: New Year’s Day is a public holiday in all 36 countries that observe holidays. Christmas Day follows with 33 countries and 1 May with 31. April and May together hold about 40% of all public holidays in Europe, so they are the hardest months for cross-border projects.

And one day is unique: Luxembourg is the only country where Europe Day, 9 May, is a public holiday.

Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway go 214 days without a public holiday in 2026, from 25 May to 25 December. Lithuania’s longest gap is only 78 days.

In only 8 of the 37 countries: Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia. All three Baltic states are on the list.

Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and North Macedonia follow the Orthodox calendar, so in 2026 their Easter is on 12 April, a week after the rest of Europe. Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina observe both Easters. Teams spread across Europe can be off in two different weeks.