Can you guess which country has the most holidays?
Can You Guess Which Country Has the Most Holidays?
Oct. 03, 2012 — -- It's that time of the year where everyone's feeling a little more tired than usual and can't wait to get time off to recharge. To battle the tiredness you could either wait until the Thanksgiving holiday rolls around or move to Argentina.
Not making sense? Let me explain. The South American country recently added a new federal holiday on September 24th to celebrate de Battle of Tucuman, one of the many that freed it from Spain. But this new holiday also marks a record for Argentina, making it the country with the most national holidays in the world with a total of 19 days off.
Colombia and Argentina were tied as the top countries with 18 holidays, more than double the number of holidays that Mexico gets and nearing double the ten days off the United States has.
Other countries at the top of this list are Thailand and Malaysia with 16 each, and Slovakia and Cypress with 15 each.
Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has added five national holidays since she came to power in 2007. Fernandez de Kirchner's argument for raising the number of days off is to promote tourism within the country and strengthen the economy. The result is a minimum of one holiday per month throughout the year.
According to the AP 9.5 million people travelled across the country spending $1.660 million during the seven long weekends in 2012 in Argentina.
John de Graaf, national coordinator of Take Back Your Time, an organization challenging time poverty and overwork in the U.S told the AP that the United States should follow the steps of Argentina. "There's evidence that when people come back from holidays they produce more" said Graaf. "In contrast, if they are overworked and stressed they produce less, are more likely to quit their job and having health issues."
That got us wondering: Anyone moving to Argentina soon?
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