France workers forgo about six paid vacation days each year

A study by the HR platform RH Deel examined roughly 160,000 validated leave requests from 17,500 employees across 23 countries. In France, the median entitlement is 34 days (including RTT), but workers actually take an average of 28 days, leaving about six days unused annually.

Only one in four French employees uses their full entitlement, the lowest utilization rate among the European nations surveyed. By contrast, more than 45 % of workers in Norway, the United Kingdom and Poland take all their leave, while Canada and India show even lower usage.

The analysis cites teleworking as one factor behind the low uptake in France. In a related legal development, the French Court of Cassation ruled that sick‑leave days occurring during scheduled vacation can be excluded from paid‑leave calculations if a medical certificate is provided within 48 hours, allowing employees to recover lost vacation days.

Overall, the findings highlight a paradox: France offers generous paid‑vacation rights, yet a significant share of those days remain untaken.