How HolidayLeft works

This page explains where the information comes from and how the answers on the site are produced.

Data source

The lists of public holidays come from the open Nager.Date project. The site downloads the lists for the current and the next year, and the whole site is rebuilt every day, so changes in the source reach the pages within about a day.

What counts as a public holiday

Only days that the source marks as public holidays are used for the answers, the countdowns and the tables. Other entries, such as bank-only days, school days, optional days and observances, are not counted as public holidays. Some countries list them separately and we show them in a collapsed list on the country page.

Nationwide and regional holidays

A holiday is marked Nationwide when it applies everywhere in the country and Some regions when it applies only to a state, province or other part. The headline answers and the "next holiday" countdowns use nationwide holidays when a country has any, so a local holiday does not hide the real next day off for most people.

Time zones

"Is today a holiday" is answered for the date in the country's main time zone, using the time zone database. For countries with several time zones, such as the United States, Russia or Brazil, we use the main zone, so a holiday may start a few hours earlier or later in other parts of the country.

Countdowns

Countdowns are calculated in your browser from your device's date. We count calendar days, so a holiday tomorrow is one day away and a holiday today is zero days away. The week figure divides the number of days by seven.

Moveable and approximate dates

Western Easter and the holidays counted from it are calculated with the standard Gregorian method. The solstice pages use 21 June and 21 December as close approximations, because the exact moment varies by a day from year to year.

Accuracy and corrections

Governments can change holidays at short notice and some dates depend on religious or astronomical decisions. We cannot guarantee that every date is right. If something looks wrong, tell us and we will check it. Please confirm important dates with an official government source before you book travel or plan business around them.