At first glance, the question of the number of working days per year seems simple. But anyone who has ever planned project capacities, calculated budgets or managed personnel resources knows that the exact figure makes the difference between realistic planning and unpleasant surprises. 220 working days, 230 or just 200? The answer varies depending on the federal state, vacation entitlement and individual work models. For companies, this indicator is the basis for resource planning, project controlling and the realistic estimation of available working time. Anyone who miscalculates here risks bottlenecks in project execution or unrealistic promises to customers.
In this article, we show how many working days and working weeks a year actually has, how these figures can be calculated and why this information is essential for strategic business planning. From legal definition to specific calculation examples to practical application in time recording and controlling systems, you will receive all relevant information for well-founded annual planning.
Definition: What counts as a working day?
Before we get into the calculation, it's worth taking a look at the basics. Because a working day is not the same as a working day and the perspective determines the definition.
Comparing calendar days, working days and working days
A year always has 365 days, in leap years 366. However, other key figures are relevant for work planning. According to German case law, working days are every day from Monday to Saturday, i.e. 52 weeks × 6 days = 312 working days per year. Working days, on the other hand, are the days on which people actually work. Most German companies have a 5-day week, which means that Saturdays are already cancelled. In addition, there are public holidays, which vary depending on the Federal State, as well as individual vacation entitlement.
Statutory basis and working models
That Working Hours Act (ArbZG) Although it regulates the maximum daily and weekly working hours, it does not define the number of working days per year. These results from a combination of collective agreements, employment contracts and public holidays. The classic 5-day week is standard in German offices and IT companies. In manufacturing companies with shift work, a 6-day week may also occur. Modern models such as the 4-day week are becoming increasingly important and are fundamentally changing the basis of calculation.
Different Perspectives When Calculating
From an employee's point of view, working days are the days actually worked after deduction of vacation and sick days. Companies, on the other hand, often calculate with average plan values for the entire workforce. In the project planning A flat rate of 220 working days per year is often expected in order to be able to realistically estimate capacities. These different perspectives repeatedly lead to misunderstandings when, for example, project runtimes are estimated or budgets are calculated.
Working days per year: averages and calculation
The calculation of annual working days follows a clear logic. The starting point is the 365 calendar days, from which weekends, holidays and vacation days are deducted.
The basic formula
In the case of a 5-day week The initial result is 52 weeks × 5 working days = 260 potential working days. Public holidays must be deducted from these. In Germany, their number varies between 9 public holidays in federal states such as Berlin, Hamburg or Schleswig-Holstein and up to 13 public holidays in Bavaria. The nationwide average is around 11 public holidays per year. If public holidays fall on weekends, the number of working days increases accordingly.
An average employee with 30 vacation days thus gets around 219 to 221 working days per year. The exact formula is: 365 days minus 104 weekend days minus 11 holidays minus 30 vacation days = 220 working days.
Overview: Working days 2023 to 2026
The specific working days vary from year to year, as public holidays sometimes fall on working days, sometimes on weekends. Here is an overview of a 5-day week, 11 average holidays and 30 vacation days:
2023: 250 working days (before vacation deduction) /220 working days (after vacation)
2024: 254 working days (before vacation deduction) /224 working days (after vacation, leap year)
2025: 251 working days (before vacation deduction) /221 working days (after vacation)
2026: 250 working days (before vacation deduction) /220 working days (after vacation)
These figures are meant as averages. In practice, companies must take into account the specific regulations of their federal state.
Regional differences in Germany
The number of public holidays differs significantly between the federal states. Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have the most non-working days, with 12 to 13 public holidays each. In Bavaria, for example, the Three Kings, Corpus Christi, the Assumption of Mary (regional) and All Saints Day are added. With 11 public holidays, North Rhine-Westphalia is in the middle of the pack, while Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have the fewest with just 9 to 10 public holidays.
For companies operating nationwide, this means that an employee in Munich has up to 4 working days less per year than a colleague in Hamburg. At the resource planning and project capacity, this difference must be considered. Otherwise, imbalances in team workload or unrealistic project timelines can quickly arise.
How many working weeks and hours does a year have?
In addition to working days, working weeks per year and total working hours are also key indicators for corporate planning.
Working weeks per year
A year has 52 weeks, sometimes 53 calendar weeks in leap years and depending on the distribution of weekdays. However, the actual working weeks are relevant for work planning. If you calculate 30 vacation days, this corresponds to 6 weeks of vacation. In addition, there is an average of 2 weeks for public holidays. This leaves around 44 full working weeks per year for an average full-time employee. This figure is often used as a planning variable in project management tools and resource allocation.
Working hours per year by week
The total working hours per year depend on the contractually agreed weekly working time. Various models are common in Germany:
- 40-hour week: 220 working days × 8 hours = 1.760 working hours per year
- 38.5-hour week: 220 working days × 7.7 hours = 1.694 working hours per year
- 37.5-hour week: 220 working days × 7.5 hours = 1.650 working hours per year
- 42-hour week: 220 working days × 8.4 hours = 1.848 working hours per year
These values form the basis for capacity planning in projects and for budgeting personnel costs. Many companies expect a planned value of around 1,680 working hours per year, which takes into account an average of various work models and a buffer for sick days.
Productive versus available working time
An important point for realistic resource planning: Not every recorded working hour Is a productive project hour. Meetings, internal coordination, continuing education, administrative activities and sick leave significantly reduce the actual available project time. Experience shows that in many companies, only 60 to 75 percent of working time can be booked directly on projects or customer orders. With 1.760 working hours per year, this leaves only around 1,100 to 1,320 billable hours in real terms. This ratio is crucial for profitability calculations and realistic project timelines.
Why the exact calculation is important for companies
Knowing the actual working days per year is much more than just a statistical gimmick. It forms the basis for central business processes.
Resource Planning and Project Management
Project manager They need to know how many working days they actually have available. Anyone who plans a project over six months and expects 130 working days is in for a nasty surprise when an employee works in Bavaria and takes three public holidays and two weeks of vacation during this period. All of a sudden, there are only 115 working days left. A difference of 15 working days can make or break critical projects.
Professional resource planning Therefore, not only does the flat rate availability take into account, but also individual vacation and public holiday regulations. Tools such as ZEP make it possible to automatically incorporate these factors into capacity planning and realistically represent team workloads.
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Budgeting and cost accounting
The working hours per year are the central reference figure for calculating personnel costs. An employee with an annual salary of 60,000 euros costs around 34 euros per hour with 1.760 working hours. With just 1.650 working hours, the hourly rate rises to 36 euros. These differences quickly add up when multiple employees are scheduled into projects.
Companies that bill their services on an hourly basis must calculate their billing rates precisely. This includes not only direct personnel costs, but also overhead costs, non-billable periods and profit margins. Anyone who expects incorrect working hours here is systematically miscalculating their projects and jeopardizing profitability.
Example: workload planning with 220 working days
A medium-sized IT consulting company is planning with a team of ten people. Each employee has an average of 220 working days per year. These results in a total capacity of 2,200 working days. With a target project workload of 70 percent, 1.540 days should be booked for customer projects. The remaining 660 days are spent on internal tasks, acquisition, continuing education and administration.
Without systematic time tracking And capacity planning, companies often only notice at the end of the year that capacity utilization was significantly lower than planned. With integrated systems, actual utilization can be continuously monitored and counteracted in good time in the event of deviations. This makes excess capacity visible before it has a negative impact on profitability.
Work calendars and tools for annual planning
The theoretical calculation of working days is the first step. Companies need suitable tools and processes for practical implementation.
The work calendar as a basis for planning
A work calendar clearly shows all relevant information: public holidays, Bridge days, vacation periods and internal company closing days. Many companies maintain such calendars for all locations and federal states in order to project planning to coordinate across locations. It is particularly important to take into account bridging days, when experience shows that many employees take vacation and availability decreases.
A well-maintained work calendar shows at a glance in which weeks reduced capacity can be expected. This prevents unrealistic deadlines during vacation months or directly after public holidays. Companies with international projects must also take into account the holidays of their partner offices or customers abroad.
Digital tools for time recording and resource planning
Modern Project Management and Time Recording Systems automatically integrate work calendars into your planning. In this way, project managers immediately recognize when a planned milestone falls on a public holiday or a critical project phase slides into the summer vacation period.
ZEP connects Time tracking, Project Controlling and resource planning in a central platform. The software automatically takes into account state-specific holidays, individual vacation claims and actual availability. This enables realistic capacity planning on a daily, weekly and annual level. Project managers can see at a glance how many working hours are actually available in a specific period of time and can identify bottlenecks at an early stage.
Integration into Existing Systems
Especially for companies that already work with DATEV or Lexware, the seamless integration of time recording Decisive in the Existing System Landscape Time data flows automatically into payroll, project billing Are linked to financial data, and capacity planning is based on the same master data as personnel administration.
This integration eliminates manual transfer errors and ensures consistent data across all systems. If the working time models are stored in personnel administration, the correct working hours per year are automatically calculated for each employee. Changes to part-time models or special regulations are incorporated directly into resource planning.
Excel templates and manual planning
Smaller companies often still use Excel spreadsheets. This works for manageable teams, but quickly reaches limits when several projects run in parallel and the team size grows. The manual maintenance of vacation calendars, holiday regulations and capacity planning becomes error-prone and time-consuming.
However, simple Excel calendars can be used as a start. A clear structure is important here: separate spreadsheets for public holidays by federal state, individual vacation plans and the total capacity per employee. The challenge lies in updating: As soon as vacation plans change or new projects start, everything has to be updated manually.
Conclusion: How to use the number of working days correctly
The number of working days per year is a seemingly simple number with great practical significance. For most full-time employees in Germany, there are around 220 to 221 working days per year with a 5-day week, 30 vacation days and an average of 11 public holidays. This corresponds to around 1.760 working hours with a 40-hour week or 44 full working weeks.
But these averages are just the starting point. For a precise resource planning Companies must take into account regional differences between federal states, individual working time models, part-time arrangements and the difference between available and productive working time. Anyone who works here imprecisely plans projects with unrealistic capacities, calculates incorrect hourly rates and risks bottlenecks.
Professional time tracking And resource planning are not luxury topics for large corporations, but the basis for economic work in project-driven companies. The Integration of Work Calendars, Automatic Consideration of Holidays and Transparent Capacity Planning not only saves administrative effort, but also enables well-founded decisions regarding project offers, personnel planning and budget management.
Anyone who knows the actual working days per year and systematically takes them into account in their planning creates the basis for realistic project promises, satisfied customers and a healthy work-life balance In a team. The best time to start is now.
FAQs
How many working days does a year have in Germany?
A 5-day week results in an average of 220 to 221 working days per year. The exact number varies depending on the federal state (9 to 13 public holidays), vacation entitlement and whether public holidays fall on weekends.
How do I calculate working hours per year?
Multiply the working days by your daily working time. With 220 working days and 8 hours a day, these results in 1.760 working hours per year. With 37.5 hours per week, it is 1,650 hours.
How many working weeks does a year with a 5-day week have?
After deducting vacation (around 6 weeks) and holidays (around 2 weeks), there are around 44 full working weeks per year. This value is often used as a planning variable in companies.
What is the difference between working days and working days?
Working days are legally all days from Monday to Saturday, i.e. 312 days a year. Working days are the days actually worked after deducting weekends, holidays and vacations.
Why does the number of working days differ between federal states?
The number of public holidays varies between 9 days in Berlin and Hamburg and up to 13 days in Bavaria. As a result, employees in Bavaria work up to 4 fewer working days per year than in northern German federal states.
How do I realistically plan the annual working time for my team?
Calculate 220 working days as a basis and calculate only 60 to 75 percent as productive project time. Take into account state-specific holidays, individual vacation plans, and non-billable periods such as meetings and continuing education.
