Public Holidays in Malta 2026, 2027 and 2028

How many public holidays are there?

There are 14 public holidays in Malta each year, the same 14 nationwide across Malta and Gozo. In law they split into 5 national holidays and 9 public holidays, but for staff and payroll they work the same way: paid days off. Thirteen of them are fixed calendar dates, so they repeat on the same day every year. The only one that moves is Good Friday, which follows Western Easter and, unlike in some countries, is a full statutory public holiday in Malta. There are no regional or municipal additions, so your local total is 14 wherever you are in the country.

How to add public holidays to Apple, Outlook and Google Calendars

Are public holidays included in my annual leave allowance?

Maltese public holidays are separate from annual leave and sit on top of it. The statutory minimum leave for a full-timer is 192 hours, which is 24 working days on a normal 8-hour day and 40-hour week, and that already exceeds the EU four-week floor. The 14 public holidays are provided in addition, never deducted from your leave balance. A public holiday that falls on a normal working day is a paid day off at your normal wage. If your employer needs you to work on one, you are entitled to extra pay or a day off in lieu, under the National Holidays and Other Public Holidays Act and the relevant Wage Regulation Orders.

Calculating public holidays for part-time staff

Part-time staff are treated pro-rata by the hours they work compared with a full-timer, because Maltese leave and holiday entitlement is calculated in hours rather than whole days. Someone who works half a full-timer's hours gets half the annual-leave hours, and the same pro-rata share of the public-holiday value. The weekend top-up explained below is added pro-rata too, so part-timers are not left out when a holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday.

What happens when a public holiday falls on a weekend

Malta has a distinctive rule that works in your favour. A public holiday that falls on a Saturday or Sunday is not lost: instead of being dropped, one equivalent day (8 hours for a full-timer) is added to your annual leave entitlement for that calendar year, to take whenever you like. There is no shifted substitute day on the calendar, the value is simply banked into your leave. In 2026, for example, three public holidays fall on a weekend (Sette Giugno on 7 June, the Assumption on 15 August and Republic Day on 13 December), so a full-timer's leave for that year rises to 216 hours, which is 27 days.

Frequently asked questions

Every European Public Holiday for 2026, 2027 and 2028