Summer holidays and students: Italia has the longest in Europe
In Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, the stay is the shortest: just six weeks
Italia is the country with the longest summer holidays for pupils: a full 14 weeks. In Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, where the summer break is the shortest, it lasts just six weeks. This is revealed by Eurydice data, published by the European Commission, collected from 39 European countries. The EU average is 10.1 weeks, very close to the 10 weeks in six of the 27 EU Member States: Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Hungary, Slovenia and Sweden. Above the European average, in addition to Italy, there are also Malta, Latvia and Cyprus with 13 weeks; Lithuania, Croatia, Estonia and Greece with 12 weeks; and Romania, Spain and Bulgaria with 11 weeks. Below the average, however, are Austria, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg with nine weeks; France and Belgium with eight weeks; and Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands with six weeks.
Throughout the year
Italia, however, is one of the few countries to have only one break lasting more than a week, alongside North Macedonia and Montenegro. In other words, the other countries have several shorter breaks throughout the school year: 14 countries have two holiday periods lasting more than a week (Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Poland, Georgia, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Cyprus and Malta). In contrast, there are three breaks in schooling lasting more than a week in eight countries: Germany, Ireland, Finland, Ukraine, Hungary, Turkey, Moldova and Latvia. There are four breaks longer than a week in 15 countries: France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, French-speaking Belgium, Flemish Belgium and German-speaking Belgium, and Romania. Finally, Luxembourg is the only country with five breaks lasting longer than a week.
Back to school
At the same time, Italia is one of the nine countries where school starts later, after 1 September, alongside Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Georgia, Luxembourg and Malta. Pupils in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and French-speaking Belgium return to school in August. The first school bell rings on 1 September in Flemish Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Ukraine. The first day of term varies in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland and Austria.
