1999 was a Record Year for Holidays  

The Millennium may have been a non-event as far as the Y2K bug was concerned, but it helped make 1999 a record year for holidays.

On average, the people of the world enjoyed 13.7 days of holiday in 1999. By comparison, over the period from 2000 to 2030 the maximum number of holidays that we're projecting for any single year is 12.2. This means that in 1999, people enjoyed over 1.5 more days of holiday than they can expect in any of the subsequent thirty years.

Behind this surge were two main factors. First, the special late-December holidays that were declared in celebration of the Millennium (or fear of the Y2K bug, depending on your point of view). Second, China, with its vast population, declared six special holidays in 1999, most of them in connection with the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of Communist rule.

The Millennium/Y2K factor has also bolstered the number of holidays in the year 2000 by some 0.7 days. But that will not be nearly enough to challenge 1999's record.

In fact, we expect the 1999 record to last for quite a number of years. There is a long-term trend toward increased leisure, and hence more holidays, and that effect alone will eventually result in the eclipsing of last year's record--but not for decades. Nor are there any special events on the horizon that are likely to match those of 1999.

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