Public holidays in Denmark, 2026

How Denmark public holidays work in 2026

Denmark recognises eleven Lutheran public holidays under common law and inherited church practice rather than a single statute. The list runs: New Year's Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, Whit Monday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Constitution Day on 5 June. Great Prayer Day (Store Bededag) on the fourth Friday after Easter was abolished as a public holiday from 2024 by the Lov om konsekvenser ved afskaffelsen of December 2022, a controversial reform passed to free up working days to fund increased defence spending. Constitution Day is a half-day for most of the public sector and many private employers.

Working days in Denmark

Danish working time follows the European Working Time Directive transposed in the Lov om arbejdstid. The standard private-sector week is 37 hours Monday to Friday by collective agreement, with banks operating Monday to Friday. The Retsplejeloven section 148a rolls procedural deadlines falling on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday to the next working day; Constitution Day after noon and the day after Ascension Day are also commonly excluded by judicial calendar. Settlement of Danish krone transactions runs on Danmarks Nationalbank's Kronos2 system, which observes the post-2024 ten-day public holiday list.