Europe overview

Austria’s summer vacations are comparatively short

Compared to other European countries, Austria's summer vacations start late and are rather short (symbolic image).

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

In Austria, there are repeated calls for the nine-week summer vacation to be shortened. Compared to other European countries, however, pupils in this country still have a comparatively short time off.

This is shown by a look at the EU education database Eurydice. In the south, children and young people tend to have the longest time off in the summer. In 18 countries, there are at least ten weeks off school. In most regions of Italy, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Albania, the summer vacation lasts twelve weeks. Ireland, Latvia and Iceland also have this length of time off school. In some cases, primary school pupils have to stay at school longer than their elders.

The first pupils in Europe start their long vacations between the end of May and the beginning of June, for example in Latvia, Finland, Iceland and Ireland. In comparison, Austria's pupils receive their annual school reports late, at the beginning of July.

Where the vacations are shorter
The vacations are similarly long in countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Luxembourg and Cyprus. Pupils in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Liechtenstein, the French part of Belgium and in several regions of Germany and Switzerland have less than eight weeks off school in the summer.

Austria's Ministry of Education rejects shorter summer vacations. Children and young people need this time off to recuperate, said Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP).