SOURCE:    Vacation Tracker
TITLE:     Time Off Around the World: Leave Trends Report
URL:       https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/
LANG:      en
PUBLISHED: 2026-10-20
UPDATED:   2026-10-20
DATA:      2024-11 to 2026-09, every figure from at least 10 companies
DATASET:   https://vacationtracker.io/static/data/leave-report.json
SUMMARY:   23 months of anonymised leave data: how much time off companies give, when people take it, how far ahead they book and how fast it's approved.

# Leave Trends Report: Time Off Around the World

We analysed 23 months of anonymised leave data from more than 3,500 companies in 67 countries, from November 2024 to September 2026. Explore when people take time off, how much they're given and actually take, how far ahead they plan and how fast requests get approved, country by country and across 14 industries.

- 15 days · median yearly allowance
- 11.2 days · vacation days taken per employee per year
- 14 days · median booking lead time
- 32 min · median approval time inside Microsoft Teams or Slack

## Key findings

- Christmas week is the busiest week of the year for time off, with 6.5% of all vacation days. That's more than 3 times an average week. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#peak-week)
- December is the busiest month, at 193% of an average month. January is the quietest, at 63%. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#peak-month)
- Companies that set their own policy give a median of 15 days of paid time off a year. It's 13.1 days in the United States and 28 in Germany. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#allowance)
- Employees record a median of 11.2 vacation days a year. It's 8.8 in the United States and 13.5 in Germany. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#days-taken)
- 61% of vacation requests are for one day or less. Only 3.4% are for 10 working days or more. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#short-breaks)
- People book vacation a median of 14 days ahead. It's 22 days in the United Kingdom and 7 in India. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#booking)
- Sick leave peaks in February, at 12.9% of all leave requests, against a low of 10.2% in early summer. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#sick-february)
- Remote-work days make up 14% of all requests, and peak every September. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#remote-september)
- 86.5% of leave requests are approved, and only 1.6% are denied. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#approvals)
- Requests approved inside Microsoft Teams or Slack were decided in a median of 32 minutes. Those approved elsewhere took 153 minutes. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#approval-speed)
- 88% of companies with more than one location run two or more public-holiday calendars, and 63% give different time-off allowances in different locations. (https://vacationtracker.io/tools/leave-trends/#multi-location)


## When do people take time off?



| Month | Index (100 = average month) |
|---|---|
| November 2024 | 67 |
| December 2024 | 168 |
| January 2025 | 67 |
| February 2025 | 63 |
| March 2025 | 76 |
| April 2025 | 83 |
| May 2025 | 83 |
| June 2025 | 109 |
| July 2025 | 131 |
| August 2025 | 129 |
| September 2025 | 92 |
| October 2025 | 85 |
| November 2025 | 77 |
| December 2025 | 193 |
| January 2026 | 63 |
| February 2026 | 66 |
| March 2026 | 85 |
| April 2026 | 83 |
| May 2026 | 87 |
| June 2026 | 110 |
| July 2026 | 135 |
| August 2026 | 129 |
| September 2026 | 87 |

| Country | Busiest week | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | Week 31 · 3.8% | Week 30 · 3.5% | Week 33 · 3.4% |
| Argentina | Week 52 · 5.1% | Week 4 · 3.1% | Week 1 · 3.1% |
| Australia | Week 52 · 14.5% | Week 51 · 7.8% | Week 1 · 4.2% |
| Bulgaria | Week 52 · 8.3% | Week 51 · 5.7% | Week 1 · 4.8% |
| Brazil | Week 52 · 7.3% | Week 51 · 4.8% | Week 1 · 3.4% |
| Canada | Week 52 · 4.6% | Week 27 · 4% | Week 32 · 3.8% |
| Switzerland | Week 52 · 8.7% | Week 31 · 4.5% | Week 32 · 4.1% |
| Cyprus | Week 52 · 6.5% | Week 1 · 4.2% | Week 34 · 3.5% |
| Czechia | Week 52 · 5.4% | Week 51 · 4.5% | Week 33 · 3.9% |
| Germany | Week 52 · 7.6% | Week 51 · 4.5% | Week 32 · 3.6% |
| Denmark | Week 52 · 5.6% | Week 51 · 4.9% | Week 1 · 4.5% |
| Egypt | Week 50 · 10.8% | Week 51 · 5.5% | Week 16 · 5.5% |
| Spain | Week 52 · 6.9% | Week 33 · 4.9% | Week 32 · 4.8% |
| France | Week 52 · 16.2% | Week 32 · 9.3% | Week 33 · 6.5% |
| United Kingdom | Week 52 · 5.2% | Week 1 · 3.5% | Week 32 · 3.2% |
| Greece | Week 33 · 13.5% | Week 52 · 8.9% | Week 1 · 6.2% |
| Hong Kong | Week 52 · 5.9% | Week 51 · 4.1% | Week 1 · 3.6% |
| Croatia | Week 52 · 12.8% | Week 31 · 6.8% | Week 30 · 5.6% |
| Hungary | Week 34 · 5.3% | Week 1 · 4.7% | Week 32 · 4% |
| Ireland | Week 52 · 5.7% | Week 51 · 4% | Week 28 · 3.9% |
| Israel | Week 32 · 4.8% | Week 34 · 4.7% | Week 31 · 4.5% |
| India | Week 52 · 8.5% | Week 51 · 3.4% | Week 1 · 3.4% |
| Italy | Week 33 · 10.6% | Week 32 · 10% | Week 34 · 6.2% |
| Mexico | Week 52 · 6.4% | Week 31 · 3.8% | Week 51 · 3.8% |
| Netherlands | Week 52 · 7.6% | Week 29 · 5.2% | Week 51 · 4.5% |
| Philippines | Week 52 · 8.3% | Week 1 · 4.6% | Week 51 · 3.6% |
| Poland | Week 52 · 6.2% | Week 28 · 3.7% | Week 34 · 3.6% |
| Portugal | Week 33 · 7.2% | Week 32 · 6.4% | Week 34 · 5.9% |
| Romania | Week 52 · 6.2% | Week 1 · 3.5% | Week 34 · 3.3% |
| Serbia | Week 1 · 5% | Week 25 · 4.9% | Week 26 · 3.7% |
| Sweden | Week 28 · 11.8% | Week 29 · 9.4% | Week 52 · 9% |
| Singapore | Week 52 · 6% | Week 51 · 4.1% | Week 1 · 3.1% |
| Thailand | Week 52 · 6.8% | Week 51 · 4.2% | Week 15 · 3.7% |
| Ukraine | Week 52 · 8.6% | Week 1 · 5% | Week 29 · 3.8% |
| United States | Week 52 · 5.3% | Week 1 · 2.8% | Week 27 · 2.8% |
| South Africa | Week 52 · 11.1% | Week 51 · 6.8% | Week 3 · 4.8% |
| All companies | Week 52 · 6.5% | Week 51 · 3.5% | Week 1 · 3.4% |


## How much paid time off do companies give?

The median is 15 days.


| Country | Allowance (days) |
|---|---|
| All companies | 15 |
| Thailand | 30 |
| Germany | 28 |
| Estonia | 28 |
| Italy | 26 |
| Saudi Arabia | 25.5 |
| United Arab Emirates | 25 |
| Switzerland | 25 |
| Denmark | 25 |
| France | 25 |
| United Kingdom | 25 |
| Netherlands | 25 |
| Norway | 25 |
| Poland | 25 |
| Serbia | 25 |
| Sweden | 25 |
| Spain | 23 |
| Brazil | 22 |
| Cyprus | 22 |
| Ireland | 22 |
| Portugal | 22 |
| Australia | 20 |
| Israel | 18 |
| Singapore | 18 |
| Ukraine | 18 |
| Argentina | 16 |
| Canada | 15 |
| Hong Kong | 15 |
| India | 15 |
| Philippines | 14 |
| United States | 13.1 |
| Mexico | 12 |


| Industry | Allowance (days) |
|---|---|
| All companies | 15 |
| Government & Public Sector | 21.1 |
| Software & IT | 20 |
| Finance & Insurance | 17.1 |
| Marketing, Media & Creative | 16 |
| Education | 15 |
| Energy & Utilities | 15 |
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 15 |
| Hospitality, Travel & Food | 15 |
| Manufacturing & Industrial | 15 |
| Non-profit & Religious | 15 |
| Professional Services | 15 |
| Retail & E-commerce | 15 |
| Construction & Real Estate | 14 |
| Transport & Logistics | 14 |


| Company size | Allowance (days) |
|---|---|
| All companies | 15 |
| 1–9 employees | 15 |
| 10–49 employees | 15 |
| 50–249 employees | 16.5 |
| 250+ employees | 15 |


## How much time off do people actually take?

People record fewer vacation days than they're given. Larger companies record more (12.7 days at 50–249 employees vs 8.3 at 1–9).


| Country | Days taken |
|---|---|
| All companies | 11.2 |
| Sweden | 19.1 |
| Portugal | 17.6 |
| Serbia | 15.6 |
| Netherlands | 15.3 |
| Switzerland | 14.8 |
| Spain | 13.9 |
| Ireland | 13.6 |
| Czechia | 13.5 |
| Germany | 13.5 |
| Poland | 13.5 |
| United Kingdom | 12.4 |
| Greece | 12.2 |
| India | 11.6 |
| Argentina | 10.5 |
| Singapore | 10.4 |
| Canada | 10 |
| Australia | 9.2 |
| Ukraine | 9.2 |
| United Arab Emirates | 9 |
| United States | 8.8 |
| Philippines | 7.5 |
| Cyprus | 6.5 |


| Industry | Days taken |
|---|---|
| All companies | 11.2 |
| Finance & Insurance | 12.1 |
| Software & IT | 12 |
| Marketing, Media & Creative | 11.6 |
| Non-profit & Religious | 11.5 |
| Manufacturing & Industrial | 11.1 |
| Energy & Utilities | 10.8 |
| Hospitality, Travel & Food | 10.8 |
| Professional Services | 10.6 |
| Construction & Real Estate | 10 |
| Government & Public Sector | 9.7 |
| Retail & E-commerce | 9.5 |
| Education | 9.2 |
| Transport & Logistics | 9.1 |
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 8.9 |


| Company size | Days taken |
|---|---|
| All companies | 11.2 |
| 1–9 employees | 8.3 |
| 10–49 employees | 11.7 |
| 50–249 employees | 12.7 |
| 250+ employees | 12.1 |


## What is leave taken for?

Vacation is 59.9% of requests, remote work 14% and sick leave 10.8%.

| Leave type | Share of requests |
|---|---|
| Bereavement | 0.2% |
| Business travel | 1.1% |
| Comp time | 2.2% |
| Floating holiday | 0.8% |
| Other | 7.3% |
| Parental leave | 0.5% |
| Personal leave | 2% |
| Remote work | 14% |
| Sick leave | 10.8% |
| Unpaid leave | 1.2% |
| Vacation | 59.9% |


## How far in advance do people request time off?

A median of 14 days. Furthest ahead: Portugal (34 days). Shortest notice: Romania (3).


| Country | Booking lead time (days) |
|---|---|
| All companies | 14 |
| Portugal | 34 |
| United Kingdom | 22 |
| Ireland | 20 |
| Sweden | 20 |
| Argentina | 19 |
| Canada | 18 |
| Spain | 16 |
| Hungary | 16 |
| Netherlands | 16 |
| Bulgaria | 14 |
| Switzerland | 14 |
| Germany | 14 |
| Denmark | 14 |
| France | 14 |
| United States | 14 |
| Czechia | 13 |
| Croatia | 13 |
| Thailand | 13 |
| Australia | 11 |
| Italy | 11 |
| Mexico | 11 |
| Philippines | 11 |
| Poland | 11 |
| South Africa | 10 |
| Greece | 9 |
| Singapore | 9 |
| United Arab Emirates | 8 |
| Hong Kong | 8 |
| Serbia | 8 |
| Cyprus | 7 |
| India | 7 |
| Brazil | 6 |
| Israel | 6 |
| Egypt | 4 |
| Ukraine | 4 |
| Romania | 3 |


| Industry | Booking lead time (days) |
|---|---|
| All companies | 14 |
| Government & Public Sector | 19 |
| Non-profit & Religious | 19 |
| Hospitality, Travel & Food | 16 |
| Marketing, Media & Creative | 16 |
| Professional Services | 16 |
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 15 |
| Construction & Real Estate | 14 |
| Finance & Insurance | 14 |
| Transport & Logistics | 13 |
| Manufacturing & Industrial | 12 |
| Retail & E-commerce | 12 |
| Software & IT | 11 |
| Energy & Utilities | 10 |
| Education | 9 |


| Company size | Booking lead time (days) |
|---|---|
| All companies | 14 |
| 1–9 employees | 14 |
| 10–49 employees | 14 |
| 50–249 employees | 13 |
| 250+ employees | 10 |


## How long is a typical vacation?

Most requests are single days. Week-long breaks are about 1 in 9.

| Length | Share of requests |
|---|---|
| Half day | 16.5% |
| 1 day | 44.8% |
| 2–4 days | 24% |
| 5–9 days | 11.4% |
| 10+ days | 3.4% |


## When are people off sick?

February is the peak, and early summer is the low.

| Month | Sick leave (share of requests) |
|---|---|
| November 2024 | 9.9% |
| December 2024 | 9.3% |
| January 2025 | 11.2% |
| February 2025 | 12.4% |
| March 2025 | 11.3% |
| April 2025 | 9.9% |
| May 2025 | 10% |
| June 2025 | 9.4% |
| July 2025 | 9.7% |
| August 2025 | 10.6% |
| September 2025 | 11.3% |
| October 2025 | 11.3% |
| November 2025 | 10.4% |
| December 2025 | 10.9% |
| January 2026 | 11.6% |
| February 2026 | 12.9% |
| March 2026 | 11.9% |
| April 2026 | 11.2% |
| May 2026 | 10.4% |
| June 2026 | 10.2% |
| July 2026 | 10.4% |
| August 2026 | 11.1% |
| September 2026 | 11.9% |


## When do people work remotely?

Remote work rises through the summer, peaks in September and dips at Christmas.

| Month | Remote work (share of requests) |
|---|---|
| November 2024 | 11.9% |
| December 2024 | 10.9% |
| January 2025 | 13.2% |
| February 2025 | 14% |
| March 2025 | 13.8% |
| April 2025 | 13.8% |
| May 2025 | 13.8% |
| June 2025 | 14.1% |
| July 2025 | 14.7% |
| August 2025 | 14.9% |
| September 2025 | 15.8% |
| October 2025 | 15.4% |
| November 2025 | 13.8% |
| December 2025 | 12.3% |
| January 2026 | 14.4% |
| February 2026 | 14.5% |
| March 2026 | 13.9% |
| April 2026 | 14% |
| May 2026 | 13.8% |
| June 2026 | 14.2% |
| July 2026 | 14.5% |
| August 2026 | 14.9% |
| September 2026 | 15.8% |


## How fast are leave requests approved?

A median of 47 minutes overall. 57.6% of requests approved inside Microsoft Teams or Slack are decided within an hour.

| Outcome | Share of requests |
|---|---|
| Approved | 86.5% |
| Cancelled | 6.5% |
| Expired | 5.2% |
| Denied | 1.6% |
| Pending | 0.3% |

| Where it was approved | Median decision time | Decided within an hour |
|---|---|---|
| Inside Microsoft Teams or Slack | 32 minutes | 57.6% |
| Elsewhere | 153 minutes | 39.3% |
| All requests | 47 minutes | |

## How many public holidays does each country have?

Holiday calendars range from 23 days (Sri Lanka) to 4 (Saudi Arabia). These are the holidays companies load into their calendars, not legal requirements.

| Country | Public holidays |
|---|---|
| Sri Lanka | 23 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 21 |
| Colombia | 19 |
| Japan | 18.5 |
| Thailand | 18 |
| Albania | 17 |
| Georgia | 17 |
| Hong Kong | 17 |
| Ukraine | 17 |
| Argentina | 16 |
| Chile | 16 |
| Indonesia | 16 |
| Malaysia | 16 |
| Romania | 16 |
| Taiwan | 15.5 |
| Austria | 15 |
| Cyprus | 15 |
| Slovenia | 15 |
| North Macedonia | 14.5 |
| China | 14 |
| Greece | 14 |
| Croatia | 14 |
| Lithuania | 14 |
| Malta | 14 |
| Nigeria | 14 |
| Pakistan | 14 |
| Poland | 14 |
| Slovakia | 14 |
| Czechia | 13 |
| Egypt | 13 |
| Finland | 13 |
| Hungary | 13 |
| Philippines | 13 |
| Portugal | 13 |
| South Africa | 13 |
| Bulgaria | 12 |
| Canada | 12 |
| Estonia | 12 |
| Italy | 12 |
| Norway | 12 |
| Sweden | 12 |
| Switzerland | 11 |
| Costa Rica | 11 |
| Spain | 11 |
| France | 11 |
| Ireland | 11 |
| South Korea | 11 |
| Luxembourg | 11 |
| New Zealand | 11 |
| Serbia | 11 |
| Singapore | 11 |
| United States | 11 |
| Australia | 10 |
| Belgium | 10 |
| Brazil | 10 |
| Denmark | 10 |
| Russia | 10 |
| Germany | 9 |
| Israel | 9 |
| Netherlands | 9 |
| Türkiye | 9 |
| United Arab Emirates | 8 |
| United Kingdom | 8 |
| Mexico | 7 |
| Vietnam | 7 |
| India | 6 |
| Saudi Arabia | 4 |


## Companies with more than one location



- 88% of companies with more than one location run two or more public-holiday calendars
- 63% of companies with more than one location give different allowances in different locations
- 8 public holidays: median difference between two locations (2 between two US locations)

## Frequently asked questions

### How much PTO is normal?

In our data, companies that set their own policy give a median of 15 days of paid time off a year. In the United States, the median is 13.1 days. Employees actually record about 11.2 vacation days a year. For what counts as normal in the US, by company and by law, read How much PTO is normal in the US (/blog/how-much-pto-is-normal/).


### What's the average PTO in the US?

US companies in our data give a median of 13.1 days of PTO a year, and US employees record a median of 8.8 vacation days. No federal law requires paid vacation in the US: see our US leave laws guide (/leave-laws/usa/).


### Is 20 days of PTO a lot?

It's above the median of 15 days we see across companies, and well above the US median of 13.1. It's below typical allowances in Germany (28) and the United Kingdom (25).


### How far in advance should you request time off?

Most people book vacation about 14 days ahead (median). In the United Kingdom it's 22 days. Check your company's notice-period policy first.


### When do most people take vacation?

Christmas week is the busiest week of the year, followed by July and August. Summer peaks start in early July in the US and Canada and in mid-August in Spain.


### When are people most often off sick?

February. Sick leave peaks at 12.9% of all leave requests then, against about 10.2% in early summer.


### How long does it take to approve a leave request?

A median of 47 minutes. Requests approved inside Microsoft Teams or Slack were decided in a median of 32 minutes, and those approved elsewhere in 153 minutes.


## Methodology

This report is built from anonymised, aggregated leave data from more than 3,500 companies in 67 countries and 14 industries that use Vacation Tracker, the leave management tool for Microsoft Teams, Slack and Google Workspace. It covers 23 months, from November 2024 to September 2026.

- Real records, not a survey: every figure comes from the leave requests and policies companies actually recorded in Vacation Tracker, not from what people say they do.
- Privacy: no company names, people or individual requests are ever published. Every figure is based on at least 10 companies; smaller groups aren't shown.
- Medians: figures in days and minutes are medians: half the companies (or requests) are above, half below. A few unusual values can't pull them up or down the way they would an average.
- Time off: from approved requests that weren't cancelled. Remote-work days and business travel are excluded from time-off figures.
- Allowance: the yearly paid-time-off allowance set on each company's main leave policy, in days: what the company gives every year. Days taken are the vacation days employees actually recorded in the last 12 months (the median per employee), in companies where at least 3 people requested leave. Side by side, the two show how much of their allowance people use.
- Company size: the number of people who requested leave in the last 12 months.
- Approval times: from request to decision, with automatic approvals left out. Requests approved inside Microsoft Teams or Slack are compared with those approved elsewhere: a correlation, not proof that one causes the other.
- Open data: every figure on this page is in one file you can download (JSON) (/static/data/leave-report.json) and reuse, with a citation.
- Updates: monthly; each edition adds the latest month.
- Not legal advice: these figures show what companies set up, not what the law requires. Check the leave laws (/leave-laws/) for your country.

## Run time off the easy way

Vacation Tracker handles leave requests, approvals, allowances and holiday calendars inside Microsoft Teams, Slack or Google Workspace.

- Start free trial · https://app.vacationtracker.io/signup
- Book a demo · https://vacationtracker.io/request-a-demo/