Methodology

This page sets out where the dates come from, how the counts are produced and what the figures
do not cover. If you are relying on anything here for a decision that matters, read it.

## Sources

Holiday dates are compiled from an open dataset that aggregates national government
publications, then reviewed before release. The underlying data is in the public domain. Where
a country's calendar is set by statute, the statutory dates are authoritative. Where it is set
by annual proclamation, by religious authority or by astronomical observation, the published
date is the best available projection and can change.

## How working days are counted

A date is a working day unless one of two things is true: it falls on the country's weekend,
or it is a nationwide public holiday. Nothing else is deducted.

Weekends are stored per country. Most use Saturday and Sunday. Several countries in the Middle
East and North Africa use Friday and Saturday, and a small number use a single rest day. Using
one global assumption would produce wrong figures for every one of them.

Ranges are counted inclusively: a range whose start and end fall on the same working day counts
as one day. When adding or subtracting working days from a date, the start date is day zero and
is never counted.

## What is deliberately excluded

Regional and subdivision holidays are listed on the country pages but are not deducted from
national totals. A holiday observed in one province is a real day off for the people there and
a normal working day for everyone else, so folding it into a national figure would be wrong in
both directions.

Substitute days are not inferred. When a public holiday falls on a weekend, some countries move
the day off to the following Monday and some do not. Where a substitute is published, it
appears as its own dated entry. Where it is not, none is invented, because guessing would
silently change a working day count.

Half days, sector specific closures, school holidays, company shutdown periods, bank clearing
calendars and stock exchange trading calendars are all outside the scope of this site. Several
of them differ from the public holiday calendar in ways that matter for settlement and payroll.

## Accuracy and revision

Dates for the current and coming year are refreshed regularly. Historical years are stable but
are not retrospectively corrected for changes announced after the fact. A date that was moved
by short notice proclamation may therefore remain as originally published for a past year.

## What this site is not

It is not legal, tax, payroll or employment advice, and it does not state anyone's statutory
entitlement to leave or to holiday pay. Those depend on the employment relationship, on the
jurisdiction and often on a collective agreement, none of which a calendar can know. Where a
date carries legal or contractual weight, confirm it against the governing text or the relevant
national authority.

Corrections are welcome at contact@businessdays.info. Please include the country, the year, the holiday and, if
you have it, a link to the official source.