More Singapore workers are using their annual leave than their regional peers

SINGAPORE: Full-time workers in Singapore have been found to be taking advantage of their paid time off (PTO) the most compared to their peers across the Asia Pacific, according to new data from Deel, which analysed time-off requests made in 2025 by more than 4,500 full-time workers in the region.

Singaporeans were found to have taken a median of 19 vacation days, ahead of workers in Hong Kong (16.5 days), Australia (16 days), Indonesia (15.5 days), Malaysia (15.5 days), and South Korea (15 days).

While Singaporeans are entitled to a median of 18 vacation days only, many ended up taking more through rollover days from previous years instead of letting them go to waste.

Singaporean workers with flexible vacation policies took even more time off, with a median of 20.75 days.

Last year, nearly six in 10 (57%) workers in Singapore used all of their entitled vacation leave, while nearly eight in 10 (77%) used at least 80%—both the highest in the region, compared with Hong Kong’s 43% and 69%, and Malaysia’s 51% and 69%.

Across the region, workers under flexible vacation policies in Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam were also found to take more leave than their peers on fixed vacation policies, although the opposite was observed in Indonesia.

Workers in the city-state were also found to take longer breaks, stretching to four days or more, compared with one-day breaks, which were the most common vacation requests in the region. /TISG

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