Which country has the most public holidays? It's not Singapore

SINGAPORE - We are now into 2015 and already you're tired from work and longing to go away again on holiday.

Too bad you work in Singapore, which offers only 11 public holidays to add to your annual leave.

So just to make you green with envy, here's data from travel search website Wego, which reveals the countries around the world with the most public holidays.

5 things to note:

1. India has the most number of public holidays, at around 21 days each year, even more depending on which state you live in.

2. Singapore does not fare too well with only 11. Luckily, with seven of those 11 falling either on Friday, Sunday or Monday, we'll still get to enjoy a bumper crop of seven long weekends this year, the most since 2009.

3. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines has the second-most public holidays with 18, followed by China and Hong Kong (17), Thailand (16), Malaysia and Vietnam (15), Indonesia (14), Taiwan and South Korea (12), Singapore (11) and Australia and New Zealand (10).

4. Europeans don't fare too badly, with Sweden and Lithuania offering the most at 15, followed by Slovakia (14), Austria, Belgium and Norway (13), Finland and Russia (12). Spain and the United Kingdom are not so holiday minded, with only eight holidays.

5. Mexico has the lowest in the world with only seven public holidays each year, although the government permits a few more "optional" public holidays, at the employer's discretion.

Wego has also developed a downloadable public holiday calendar for Asia-Pacific, India and the United Arab Emirates so travellers can plan ahead and, by having something to look forward to, ease back into a brand new working year.

ann@sph.com.sg

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