Longest Paid Vacations In Europe: Who Has The Best Deal?

BERLIN, July 27 (Reuters) - Germans may accuse spendthrift euro zone southerners of too much play and not enough work, but they enjoy the most generous annual holiday time in the European Union, a study released on Wednesday showed.

Workers in Germany enjoy 30 days of paid holiday a year on average, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) said. Only Danes are afforded as much time off in the EU.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised hackles across southern Europe in May when she suggested people in heavily indebted euro zone nations were taking too much holiday and retiring too early.

"We cannot have a currency (the euro) with one person getting lots of holiday and another person very little," she said at a Christian Democrat party event in Germany. "Long term this can't work."

Politicians and media from Mediterranean countries slammed Merkel for playing up Europe's north-south divide to appease German voters angry at having to bail out euro zone countries like Greece and Portugal.

The Eurofound study showed that coupled with public holidays, the average German has 40 days of holiday a year -- still tied with the Danes for the most in Europe.

Greeks and Portuguese by comparison each average 33 days vacation a year, including public holidays.

Romanians get the least vacation in the 27-nation EU, with annual paid leave and public holidays totalling 27 days.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Paul Taylor)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Take a look at the number of annual paid vacation days in other European countries. The results are based on a recent study by Eurofund of the number collectively agreed days of paid vacation per year in 2010.

1 of 10

Germany: 30

1 of 11

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

The Strongest Earthquakes And Tsunamis In The Past 50 Years

Protests Rock Brazil

gadgets/slideshows/303996/slide_303996_2589055_small.jpg

Iconic Figures Of Protest (WARNING: Graphic Images)

Taksim Square Stormed

Michelle, Sasha And Malia Visit Berlin Wall

20 Worst Disaster Displacements Of 2012

comments(234)

Total comments: 234 | Post a Comment

1 of 11

Comments

[Kald]

05:14 PM on 08/02/2011

What is interesting here is that the more vacation days people have, the better off the nation is.

[Monicalups]

05:56 AM on 08/01/2011

Here in Italy the whole country shuts down for the whole month of August. Even if you take your vacation in July or September, you won't get much done as offices (and cities) are deserted, noone phones and you get anout one email a day! :D

[EuroRant1]

10:21 PM on 07/31/2011

I learned first-hand that the average European take their holiday time (vacations) very seriously.

My first year here (20 yrs ago), I did the American ideal of being grateful I had a job I decided to show my gratitude by working through most of my holiday.
I literally became the biggest punchline in the office. People used to bring friends around my desk just to point out the idiot American that didn't take his full holiday time off. I was cured quickly... that never was repeated.

After three years I have 3 weeks off for holiday plus bank holidays (religious and non-religious) this can add up to about 45 days off a year with pay.

Okay, I don't mind the high taxes anymore, there are just so many benefits. Great health care system, our children eat like royalty everyday at school, the education system is unbelievable, gay issues here are non-existant. Public transportation is very efficient.

We were helped in starting our own successful business. After working hours I never carry a GSM (cell phone) or Blackberry... it's time off and everyone respects that rule. In fact, I don't even own a cell phone or a car. We do this thing called live-chatting here called "cafes" and we take that very seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovO18E-hgew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1o5tufP9ZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbMOp1qzBMc

[Husaria]

02:21 PM on 08/02/2011

Sounds like heaven.

You will never ever get an American to believe what you just posted. They will never accept that well rested, cared for workers are more productive, take less sick days and.........wait for it...........are more productive than their American counterparts.

[MexiChick67]

05:06 PM on 08/02/2011

Americans have been brainwashed to believe that they need to di e at their desks by the corporations and Puritans.

[Pollytiques]

06:08 PM on 08/09/2011

Ohh I believe it sure nuff..And I have spent 75 years watching the fact we are NOT supposed to know. Makes me wish there really was another life. I want to come back as a European. If some big company decides they want my little bit of land with my hovel on it. They could take it away from me. And I wouldn't have the money to fight it all the way to Supreme court so those crooks could help them. I will have to move, wonder if it's too late for this lifetime?

[relians]

03:46 PM on 08/02/2011

i lived in france for a year, it was great. totally eye opening as to the quality of life enjoyed there.

[Mr Crabs]

02:41 PM on 07/31/2011

And here we are in the US where you're lucky to have paid vacations. And if you do the national average is 13. People say the Japanese are working automaton cubicle jockeys but they at least get 25 days.

[Pollytiques]

06:13 PM on 08/09/2011

In the US people are lucky to have a JOB...Speaking of that, wonder where our EMPLOYEES are right about now? The first wave might be in Israel by this time, instead of staying on the job and forcing the companies that gets the tax breaks because according to the republicans, they create jobs, now after all these years, it's time to put up or shut up and PAY UP.

[DarkAlchemist]

01:15 AM on 07/31/2011

Germany has their act together. As long as they do they deserve their vacation. Greeks should stop destroying buildings and rioting and realize it's not the 20th century anymore.

[LVNVprog]

02:17 PM on 07/30/2011

Welcome to the Capitalist societies of the U.S. or China for that matter. European Social Democratic societies are the scourge of the Corporatists that are running the U.S. Government.
They deamonize Europeans at every turn, fearful that Americn Workers come to understand that they have basic Human Rights spelled out in the U.S. constitution. Basic Health Care for All, Fair Wages and Benefits for all. Fair taxing structures that impede greed at the expense of the lowest rung workers.

[stormsun]

04:55 PM on 07/31/2011

Not to quibble, but "basic health care for all" is not in the Constitution. It never was. Neither is "fair wages and benefits for all." How would you mandate that in the first place? Fair taxation I think we could all agree is a laudable objective, but you would get lots of disagreement over what "fair" means. Is it fair to tax someone 50% and another 0%? How about if we just tax everyone 15% with no exceptions, exemptions or loopholes. Would that be fair? Finally, going back to "basic health care for all," let me ask you something: if you were a doctor working 90 hours a week, would you want to be paid for it? Would you be willing to add to your workload for free because the government told you to? Or to have the government set your wages for you? You are quite casual in deciding who should get what; usually that indicates a person is is not, and does not plan to be, one of the people who actually has to produce or pay for the things you want to distribute so generously.

[f1 ghirl]

11:29 PM on 08/01/2011

I don't get the US. They equate Social democracy with Socialism and Communism. They are allergic to that concept!.

[ManwithaParachute]

01:07 PM on 07/30/2011

Merkel is reason enough to blo-up the Euro

[Marc NL]

01:46 PM on 07/30/2011

Sounds like you had a bad experience in Europe. Care to tell us about it?

[ManwithaParachute]

03:33 PM on 07/30/2011

Europe is great...Merkel not so much

[JesuisFrederique]

12:01 PM on 07/30/2011

Here in the USA it feels like I live to work instead of working to live. It sucks...

[aritul]

02:27 PM on 07/31/2011

'Tis true.

[Bernie M]

11:03 AM on 07/30/2011

Been trying to get back to Europe since 1999. Loved living in France and the UK!

[WireDolly]

11:10 AM on 07/30/2011

Likewise...

[aritul]

02:21 PM on 07/31/2011

Same.

[Swedenworks]

10:12 AM on 07/30/2011

Unions rock!

[seatheworld1]

07:39 AM on 07/30/2011

Dont fret peeps, soon we will all be on vacation, permantly. Keep these fools in office. Our jobs will be hunting for food!!

[MexiChick67]

05:07 PM on 08/02/2011

How about taking to the streets like the French or voting. Only a slim number of people actually vote in our country. That will show them.

[Johnny Bomers]

06:08 PM on 07/29/2011

The Euro is up. The Dollar is down. Still they can afford all this good stuff. thirty-five hour work week.
Decent pensions. Decent healthcare. Nice vacations. And we debating were the cuts will come from. MediCare, Social Security, education, affordable housing. The list goes on.

[Marc NL]

06:14 PM on 07/29/2011

I agree. Yet, if you listen to certain "news" organisations (Fox) and conservatives Europe is nothing but pure misery. As a European living in the U.S it's very offensive because even though Europe is not perfect it's far from being the hell hole they think it is.

[ManwithaParachute]

01:09 PM on 07/30/2011

Until you end up in the wrong place in France and you have to use a Turkish Toilet.

[mcgin]

06:03 PM on 07/29/2011

Nice image for Ireland, why not just use a potato

[chefmike]

05:48 AM on 08/01/2011

Or a bottle of whiskey. Nothing you can get an Irishman to do, that a draw-horse can't do in half the time.

[KOCT]

05:20 PM on 07/29/2011

Only Americans would work 51 weeks a year and not complain.

Are we crazy? Or are they lazy?

At 62, having worked since I was 16....I'm ready to join the lazy!

[eva07]

01:53 AM on 07/30/2011

They have strong unions, and no, it is not lazy, you are able to work better if you had a vacations..

[RedwoodtoPonga]

02:17 AM on 07/30/2011

Americans don't complain?

[palefeet]

05:15 PM on 07/29/2011

You yanks work way too much...but then again, most of you are probably at "work" reading this...
I think its only fair to work half the year, holiday the other half...have a 3.5 day working week...Because the truth in my opinion is, that most people hate their work...and they love their holidays...There are enough resources and sufficient technology to supply labour through machines while we all share in the abundance and bounty of a harmonious, sustainable system of unity, not competition...

[WireDolly]

11:09 AM on 07/30/2011

Given the human population growth curve as well as job shortages, I think you're on to something. Give people the option to share their jobs half a year with one other, provided there's a living wage involved. We'd probably see a huge increase in people growing their own food and living much healthier lives closer to their families, if that is their wish.

[DarkAlchemist]

01:18 AM on 07/31/2011

I agree with what you are saying about Americans probably "reading this at work." It is insufferable to hear about all the unemployed here in the United States, and then when you talk to someone who has a posh job you learn that all they do is browse the news, listen to music, or play on their iDevice all day. There are plenty of people out there who would love to have a job and would spend the time actually being productive. Employers should try to stay aware, and if their employees would rather be "reading the news than working," replace them with someone who will do the job right.