A side-by-side breakdown of 2026 public holidays across five major economies. How many holidays each country has, when they cluster, and how often they fall on weekdays. Data: caldays open holiday dataset (CC BY 4.0).
| Country | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| usaUnited States | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| ukUnited Kingdom | 2 | — | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | 1 | 2 | — | — | 1 | 2 |
| germanyGermany | 2 | — | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| #FFFFFF#BC002DJapan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | — |
| #E11D48#FFFFFFIndonesia | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | — | 2 | — | — | — | 2 |
Heatmap intensity reflects holiday density per month. Red cells = 4+ holidays. Common cluster: late December (Christmas/New Year) and May (Labour Day variants).
| Country | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Weekday % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| usaUnited States | 1 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 92% |
| ukUnited Kingdom | 1 | 8 | 1 | — | 1 | 3 | — | 93% |
| germanyGermany | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 59% |
| #FFFFFF#BC002DJapan | 1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | 94% |
| #E11D48#FFFFFFIndonesia | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 86% |
Higher weekday % = more effective time off (a holiday on Sat/Sun is "wasted" in most countries — though the UK observes Monday substitution).
Scope: 2026 national public holidays (federal-level for US, bank holidays for UK, federal Feiertage for DE, national for JP, libur nasional for ID).
Excluded: Regional/state holidays (US state, UK constituent-country specifics, DE Länder, ID provincial), religious observances not gazetted, joint-leave days (ID cuti bersama).
Sources: US OPM, UK Gov bank holidays API, DE Bundesgesetzblatt, JP Naikaku-fu Cabinet Office, ID SKB 3 Menteri.
License: CC BY 4.0. Republish freely with credit + link.