Public holidays in Iraq, 2026
Iraq observes 7 nationwide public holidays in 2026. After weekends and those holidays are removed, the working year comes to 258 days.
Every public holiday in 2026
| Date | Day | Holiday | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, 1 Jan | Thursday | New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| Tue, 6 Jan | Tuesday | Army Day | Nationwide |
| Sat, 21 Mar | Saturday Weekend | Nowruz | Nationwide |
| Fri, 1 May | Friday Weekend | Labour Day | Nationwide |
| Sat, 3 Oct | Saturday Weekend | National Day | Nationwide |
| Thu, 10 Dec | Thursday | Victory Day | Nationwide |
| Fri, 25 Dec | Friday Weekend | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
Working days month by month
| Month | Calendar days | Weekend | Holidays | Working days | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 152 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 160 |
| March | 31 | 8 | 0 | 23 | 184 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| July | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| August | 31 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| October | 31 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| November | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| Year | 365 | 104 | 3 | 258 | 2,064 |
Reading these figures
The working day count treats Friday and Saturday as the weekend, which is the standard working week in Iraq. Only nationwide holidays are deducted; a date observed in one region alone still counts as a working day here, because a national figure that moved with regional calendars would describe nobody accurately.
4 of this year's public holidays fall on a weekend and therefore add no time away from work: Nowruz (21 Mar), Labour Day (1 May), National Day (3 Oct), Christmas Day (25 Dec). Whether these are compensated with a substitute day depends on national rules rather than on the calendar, so confirm before planning around them.
The longest working month is March at 23 days; the shortest is January at 19. That spread of 4 days matters for anything billed or accrued monthly, which is why payroll and capacity plans that assume an even year drift by the end of it. The thinnest quarter is Q1, carrying 62 working days across January, February, March.
Compared with 2025, which held 256 working days, 2026 is 2 working days longer. Where a target is carried over from one year to the next unchanged, that difference is absorbed silently unless someone accounts for it.
Against the 204 countries covered here for 2026, Iraq's 7 nationwide holidays put it below the median of 12, around the 9th percentile. The range across all countries this year runs from 3 to 49.
The holidays produce 2 breaks of three consecutive non-working days or more. The longest runs 3 days, from 1 January 2026 to 3 January 2026, built around New Year's Day. The full breakdown is here.