Workers in These Countries Got the Most Paid Time Off in 2022

Hint: The United States isn't number one on this list.

Paid time off is something that every worker on Earth should have. Unfortunately, I'm not in charge of this, so depending on where you live and what you do, the amount of PTO and paid vacation days you can get varies wildly. Online resume builder Resume.io released a study of countries around the world that offer workers the most—and least—days of PTO and paid vacation days on average. 

Below are the results.

Courtesy of Resume.io

If that map is a bit overwhelming for you, I'll pull some of the highlights out. For starters, coming in first place for the number of public holidays and the most paid vacation days overall is Iran. The country has 27 public holidays and a total of 53 paid vacation days. Following behind is San Marino, with 46, and then Yemen with 45. Here's the top 10 countries for overall paid vacation vacation days:

1. Iran
2. San Marino
3. Yemen
4. Andorra
5. Bhutan
6. Bahrain
7. Togo
8. Niger
9. Madagascar
10. Monaco

For the top countries with paid time off, the list differs a bit. These are the countries that you can schedule your own days off, not just days connected to nationally recognized holidays.

1. Monaco
2. Marshall Islands
3. Andorra
4. Maldives
5. Bhutan
6. Comoros
7. Djibouti
8. Equatorial Guinea
9. Bahrain
10. Kuwait

Inversely, the country with the least time off may surprise you. The country with the absolute zero days? The United States. The US has zero days of paid leave guaranteed to all workers. The US also has the second lowest number of paid vacation days in the world, with just 10. While that is a benefit at some companies, in certain industries like leisure and hospitality only about 43% of workers get any PTO, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There is certainly nothing leisurely or hospitable about that fact!

According to Resume.io, the US is "the only developed country with no statutory paid leave, and only the Pacific island countries of Nauru, Micronesia, and Kiribati have the same. In the US, paid leave is at the discretion of the employer."

Overall, 23 countries have 30 days of paid leave per year, and the global average for paid leave is 18.2 days. Seems like some countries *cough, cough* have some catching up to do.

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Opheli Garcia Lawler is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.