List of national holidays

This list contains officially celebrated national holidays of states recognized under international law .

The date, any official name of the holiday as well as the decisive event and the year in which it took place are given. Often this is the day on which a state achieved its sovereignty (for example by the end of colonial rule or by secession from another state.) Or a transition of its political system took place. In some cases, the national holiday is an irregularly recurring event (for example the birth or inauguration of the head of state), so the date is not fixed and changes for the foreseeable future. In these cases the date is shown here in italics .

Some states celebrate several national holidays, others do not have an official national holiday.

List of official national holidays

Country	date	Surname	Crucial event	year
Afghanistan	19 Aug		Independence from UK control	1919
Egypt	July 23	Revolution day	Military coup against the Egyptian monarchy	1952
Albania	Nov 28	Dita e Pavarësisë	Independence from the Ottoman Empire	1912
Algeria	0Nov 1	Revolution day	Beginning of the Algerian War, which in 1962 led to independence from France .	1954
Andorra	08 Sep		State foundation through treaty of the co-princes	1278
Angola	Nov 11		Independence from Portugal	1975
Antigua and Barbuda	0Nov 1		Independence from the UK	1981
Equatorial Guinea	Oct 12		Independence from Spain	1968
Argentina	25. May		Proclaimed independence from Spain .	1810
Armenia	21 Sep		Independence from the Soviet Union	1991
Azerbaijan	28th of May		Independence from the Russian Empire	1918
Ethiopia	28th of May		Disempowerment of the Derg regime, which ended the Ethiopian civil war and initiated the transition to a federal republic	1991
Australia	Jan. 26	Australia Day	First white settlers arrive	1788
Bahamas	10th of July		Independence from the UK	1973
Bahrain	16 Dec		Independence Day (not de facto independence day from the United Kingdom )	1971
Bangladesh	26th Mar	Independence day	Proclamation of independence from Pakistan (recognized only after the Bangladesh war )	1971
Barbados	Nov 30		Independence from the UK	1966
Belgium	21 July		The first Belgian king takes his oath as a result of independence from the Netherlands .	1831
Belize	21 Sep		Independence from the UK	1981
Benin	01 Aug		Independence from France	1960
Bhutan	17 Dec		First King Ugyen Wangchuk ascended to the throne	1907
Bolivia	06 Aug		Independence from Spain	1825
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0Jan. 9		Establishment of the Republika Srpska (only in the Republika Srpska)	1992
Bosnia and Herzegovina	01st Mar		Independence referendum from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (only in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina )	1992
Botswana	Sep 30		Independence from the UK	1966
Brazil	0Sep 7		Independence from Portugal proclaimed (in fact only independent from 1825)	1822
Brunei	23 Feb		Complete independence from the UK	1984
Bulgaria	03rd Mar		Treaty of San Stefano , who later for independence from the Ottoman Empire leads	1878
Burkina Faso	Dec 11		Proclamation of the republic within the framework of the Communauté française	1958
Burundi	0July 1		Independence from Belgium	1962
Chile	Sep 18		Beginning of the independence process	1810
Taiwan	Oct 10		Wuchang uprising	1911
People's Republic of China	0Oct. 1		Proclamation of the People's Republic by Mao Zedong	1949
Costa Rica	Sep 15		Independence from Spain	1821
Denmark	0June 5th	Grundlovsdag	Signing of the Basic Law of Denmark	1849
Democratic Republic of Congo	June 30th		Independence from Belgium	1960
Germany	0Oct. 3	Day of German unity	Reunification through the accession of the German Democratic Republic to the Federal Republic of Germany	1990
Dominica	0Nov 3		Independence from the UK	1978
Dominican Republic	Feb 27		Independence from Haiti	1844
Djibouti	June 27th		Independence from France	1977
Ecuador	10 Aug		Proclamation of independence from Spain , achieved with the Battle of Pichincha in 1822 .	1809
Ivory Coast	07 Aug		Independence from France	1960
El Salvador	Sep 15		Proclaimed independence from Spain .	1821
Eritrea	May 24th		Independence from Ethiopia	1993
Estonia	Feb. 24		Independence from the Russian Empire	1918
Fiji	Oct 10		Independence from the UK	1970
Finland	06 Dec	Independence day	Independence from russia	1917
France	July 14th	National Festival	Storming the Bastille and the Federation Festival	1789/1790
Gabon	17th Aug		Independence from France	1960
Gambia	Feb 18		Independence from the UK	1965
Georgia	May 26		Independence from the Russian Empire	1918
Ghana	06th Mar		Independence from the UK	1957
Grenada	0Feb 7		Independence from the UK	1974
Greece	25th Mar		Beginning of the Greek Revolution	1821
Greece	Oct 28	Ochi day	Rejection of an Italian ultimatum that the Greek-Italian war led	1940
Guatemala	Sep 15		Declaration of Independence from Spain	1821
Guinea	0Oct. 2		Independence from France	1958
Guinea-Bissau	Sep 24		Proclamation of independence from Portugal	1973
Guyana	23 Feb		Change of form of government	1970
Haiti	0Jan. 1		Independence from France	1804
Honduras	Sep 15		Declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Spain	1821
India	15 Aug	Swatantrata Divas	Independence from the UK	1947
India	Jan. 26	day of the Republic	Entry into force of the constitution	1950
India	0Oct. 2	Gandhi Jayanti	Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi	1869
Indonesia	17th Aug	Independence day	Proclamation of independence from the colonial power Netherlands after the withdrawal of the occupying power Japan	1945
Iraq	July 14th		Coup of Abd al-Karim Qasim	1958
Iran	Feb 11		Victory of the Islamic Revolution (22nd Bahman )	1979
Ireland	17th Mar	St. Patrick's Day	mythical day of death of Patrick of Ireland	461/493
Iceland	17th of June		Proclamation of the republic on the birthday of Jón Sigurðsson (de facto independence from the Kingdom of Denmark , with which a monarchy previously existed in personal union.)	1944
Israel	05. Ijjar	Yom HaAtzma'ut	Proclamation of independence from the British Mandate (celebrated on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday closest to that date. This can be anywhere between April 15th and May 15th .)	1948
Italy	02th of June	Festa della Repubblica	Referendum on the introduction of the republic	1946
Jamaica	06 Aug		Independence from the UK	1962
Japan	Feb 11	National Foundation Day	mythical founding of the state through the accession of Emperor Jimmu to the throne	660 BC Chr.
Japan	23 Feb	Birthday of the emperor	Birthday of the incumbent Tennō	1960
Yemen	May 22	Unification Day	Reunification of North and South Yemen	1990
Jordan	25. May		Independence from the UK	1946
Cambodia	0Nov 9		Independence from France	1953
Cameroon	May 20th	Constitution Day	Change from a federal state to a unitary state	1972
Canada	0July 1	Fete du Canada	Autonomy (but not independence) from the United Kingdom	1867
Cape Verde	05th July		Independence from Portugal	1975
Kazakhstan	Oct 25		Declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union	1990
Kosovo	Feb 17		Independence from Serbia	2008
Qatar	03rd Sep		Independence from the UK	1971
Kenya	Dec 12		Independence from the UK	1963
Kyrgyzstan	31 Aug		Independence from the Soviet Union	1991
Kiribati	July 12		Independence from the UK	1979
Colombia	20th of July		Proclamation of independence from Spain	1810
Comoros	0July 6th		Independence from France	1975
Republic of the Congo	15 Aug		Independence from France	1960
North Korea	0Sep 9		Proclamation of the People's Republic	1948
South Korea	15 Aug	Gwangbokjeol	Independence from Japan / proclamation of the republic	1945/1948
Croatia	25th June	Statehood Day	Proclamation of independence from Yugoslavia	1991
Cuba	0Jan. 1	Liberation Day	Victory of the revolution	1959
Kuwait	Feb 25		Recapture of Kuwait in the Second Gulf War	1991
Laos	0Dec 2		Proclamation of the People's Republic	1975
Lesotho	04th Oct		Independence from the UK	1966
Latvia	Nov 18		Independence from the Russian Empire	1918
Lebanon	Nov 22		Independence from France	1943
Liberia	July 26th		Independence from the USA	1847
Libya	0Sep 1	Revolution day	Military coup against the monarchy and proclamation of the Arab Republic	1969
Liechtenstein	15 Aug	National holiday	Assumption of Mary and birthday of the former Prince Franz Josef II (actually on August 16)
Lithuania	Feb 16		Independence from Russia and the German Empire on February 16, 1918.	1918
Luxembourg	23rd June	National holiday	originally the day of the celebration of the birthday of Grand Duchess Charlotte (not her birthday), now no reference to the monarchy
Madagascar	June 26th		Independence from France	1960
Malawi	0July 6th		Independence from the UK	1964
Malaysia	31 Aug	Hari Merdeka	Independence from the UK	1957
Maldives	July 26th		Independence from the UK	1965
Mali	22 Sep		Independence from France	1960
Malta	21 Sep		Independence from the UK	1964
Morocco	30th July		Accession to the throne of Mohammed VI.	1999
Marshall Islands	01st of May	Constitution Day	Entry into force of the Constitution and independence from the US Pacific Islands Trust Territory	1979
Mauritania	Nov 28		Independence from France	1960
Mauritius	March 12		Independence from the UK	1968
Mexico	16 Sep	Grito de Dolores	Proclamation of independence from Spain (recognized September 27, 1821)	1810
Micronesia	0Nov 3		Proclamation of independence from the USA	1986
Moldova	27 Aug		Proclamation of independence from the Soviet Union	1991
Monaco	19 Nov	Fete du Prince	Name day of Prince Rainier III.
Mongolia	July 11th		Disempowerment of the Khorezmian Empire in Persia in 1219	1219
Montenegro	July 13th		Recognition of independence from the Ottoman Empire by the Berlin Congress	1878
Mozambique	25th June		Independence from Portugal	1975
Myanmar	0Jan. 4		Independence from the UK	1948
Namibia	21 Mar		Independence from the South African occupation	1990
Nauru	Jan. 31		Independence (previously UN trust territory)	1968
Nepal	28th of May	day of the Republic	End of the monarchy and proclamation of the republic	2008
New Zealand	0Feb 6	Waitangi Day	Established by the Treaty of Waitangi	1840
Nicaragua	Sep 15		Proclamation of independence from Spain	1821
Netherlands	27 Apr	Koningsdag	King Willem-Alexander's birthday	2013
Niger	Dec 18	day of the Republic	Proclamation of the Republic (remained an autonomous republic in the Communauté française , independence from France followed in 1960)	1958
Nigeria	0Oct. 1		Independence from the UK	1960
North Macedonia	02nd Aug	Den na Republikata	Ilinden uprising	1903
North Macedonia	08 Sep	Den na nezavisnosta	Independence from Yugoslavia	1991
Norway	17th of May	Constitution Day	Signing of the Eidsvoll constitution	1814
Oman	Nov 18		Birthday of the Sultan Qaboos ibn Said	1940
Austria	Oct 26	National holiday	Adoption of the Neutrality Act	1955
East Timor	Nov 28		Proclamation of independence from Portugal (recognized in 2002)	1975
Pakistan	23 Mar	Package day	Decision to found the state	1940
Pakistan	14 Aug	Yom-e-Istiqlal	Independence from the UK	1947
Palau	0Oct. 1		Independence from the USA	1994
Panama	0Nov 3		Separation from Greater Colombia	1903
Papua New Guinea	16 Sep		Independence (previously: UN Trust Territory under Australian administration)	1975
Paraguay	May 15	Día de Independencia	Independence from Spain	1811
Peru	July 28th		Independence from Spain	1821
Philippines	June 12	Araw ng Kalayaan	Proclamation of independence from Spain	1898
Poland	0May 3rd		First Polish Constitution	1791
Poland	Nov 11	Independence day	Restoration of independence after the partition of Poland	1918
Portugal	June 10th	Dia de Portugal	Anniversary of the death of the national poet Luís de Camões	1579/80
Rwanda	0July 1		Independence from Belgium	1962
Romania	0Dec 1	Ziua Marii Uniri	Union of Transylvania with Romania	1919
Russia	June 12	День России	Independence of the RSFSR from the Soviet Union	1990
Solomon Islands	07th of July		Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom	1978
Zambia	Oct. 24		Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom	1964
Samoa	0June 1st	Independence day	Independence from New Zealand (actually January 1st)	1962
San Marino	03rd Sep		legendary foundation by hermit Marinus	301
Sao Tome and Principe	July 12		Independence from Portugal	1975
Saudi Arabia	23 Sep		Day of the unification to the unitary state	1932
Sweden	06th of June	Flag day	Election of Gustav Vasa from the restoration of sovereignty to the King, by elimination from the Danish -dominated Kalmar Union followed	1523
Switzerland	01 Aug	Federal holiday	Federal letter of 1291 (only the month but not the exact day is documented)	1291
Senegal	0Apr 4		Independence from France	1960
Serbia	Feb 15		Beginning of the first Serbian uprising against the Ottoman Empire (1804) and adoption of the first Serbian constitution (1835)	1804, 1835
Seychelles	18th of June	Independence Day	Independence from the UK	1976
Sierra Leone	27 Apr	day of the Republic	Independence from the UK	1961
Zimbabwe	Apr 18		Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom	1980
Singapore	09 Aug		Recognition of sovereignty by Malaysia	1965
Slovakia	0Jan. 1		Split from Czechoslovakia	1993
Slovenia	25th June		Proclamation of independence from Yugoslavia	1991
Somalia	0July 1		Independence of Italian Somaliland and unification with British Somaliland	1960
Spain	Oct 12		Discovery of America by Columbus	1492
Sri Lanka	0Feb 4		Independence from the UK	1948
St. Kitts and Nevis	19 Sep		Independence from the UK	1983
St. Lucia	Feb 22		Independence from the UK	1979
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Oct. 27		Independence from the UK	1979
South Africa	27 Apr	Freedom Day	First free, democratic election	1994
Sudan	0Jan. 1		Independence from the United Kingdom (proclamation of the Republic to succeed Anglo-Egyptian Sudan )	1956
South Sudan	0July 9		Independence from Sudan	2011
Suriname	Nov 25		Independence from the Netherlands	1975
Swaziland	06 Sep		Independence from the UK	1968
Syria	Apr 17		De facto independence from France	1946
Tajikistan	0Sep 9		Proclamation of independence from the Soviet Union	1991
Tanzania	26 Apr		Beginning of the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar	1964
Thailand	0Dec 5		Birthday of long-time King Bhumibol Adulyadej	1927
Togo	27 Apr		Independence from France	1960
Tonga	0June 4th		Independence from the UK	1970
Trinidad and Tobago	31 Aug		Independence from the UK	1962
Chad	11 Aug		Independence from France	1960
Czech Republic	Oct 28		Proclamation of the independence of Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary	1918
Tunisia	20 Mar		Declaration of independence from France	1956
Turkey	Oct 29		Proclamation of the Republic in succession to the Ottoman Empire	1923
Turkmenistan	Oct. 27		Proclamation of independence from the Soviet Union	1991
Tuvalu	0Oct. 1		Independence from the UK	1978
Uganda	0Oct 9		Independence from the UK	1962
Ukraine	24 Aug		Proclamation of independence from the Soviet Union	1991
Hungary	15th Mar		Beginning of the revolution	1848
Hungary	20 Aug	St. Stephen's Day	Canonization of the first king and national saint Stefan I.	1083
Hungary	23 Oct		Beginning of the Hungarian popular uprising	1956
Uruguay	25 Aug	Día de la Independencia	Proclamation of independence from Brazil	1825
Uzbekistan	0Sep 1		Independence from the Soviet Union	1991
Vanuatu	30th July		Independence from the UK and France	1980
Vatican city	13 Mar		Day of the election of the incumbent Pope	2013
Venezuela	05th July		Proclamation of independence from Spain	1811
United Arab Emirates	0Dec 2		Independence of the individual emirates from the United Kingdom , establishment of the United Arab Emirates	1971
United States	0July 4th	Independence Day	Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom	1776
Vietnam	0Sep 2		Proclamation of independence from France	1945
Belarus	03rd of July	Independence day	Recapture of Minsk by the Red Army	1944
Western Sahara	Feb 27		Declaration of independence from Spain	1976
Central African Republic	0Dec 1		Establishment of the republic (independent from France since 1960)	1958
Cyprus	0Oct. 1		Independence from the United Kingdom (actually on August 16, 1960)	1960

List of unofficial national holidays

The following list contains holidays of sovereign states that are not officially observed as a national holiday, but which de facto have the role of a national holiday.

Country	date	Surname	Crucial event	year
Denmark	0June 5th	Grundlovsdag	Signing of the Basic Law of Denmark	1849
United Kingdom	second Saturday in June		Birthday of the reigning monarch

See also

• List of independence dates of states

source

• The Fischer World Almanac . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-72009-5 .

Web links

• List of the UN ( Memento of May 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 衆議院 議員 矢 山 有 作 君 提出 天皇 誕生 日 を 日本 の ナ シ ョ ナ ル ・ デ ー と し て い る こ と に 関 す る 質問 に 対 す る 答 弁 書. Retrieved March 2, 2019 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ Embassy of Nepal in Beijing ( Memento of April 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany
4. ↑ Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany
5. ↑ Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany
6. ^ Federal letter of 1291 , Der Bundesrat
7. ↑ Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany
8. ↑ Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany
9. ^ National Holiday of Member States ( Memento of April 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ To increase the likelihood of a suitable weather for a celebration. Queen Elizabeth II's actual birthday is April 21st .