Malawi public holidays 2026
Malawi has 11 national public holidays in 2026. Take those and the weekends out of the calendar and 250 working days remain.
Holiday list for 2026
| Date | Weekday | Holiday | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | Thursday | New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| 15 Jan | Thursday | John Chilembwe Day | Nationwide |
| 3 Mar | Tuesday | Martyrs' Day | Nationwide |
| 3 Apr | Friday | Good Friday | Nationwide |
| 6 Apr | Monday | Easter Monday | Nationwide |
| 1 May | Friday | Labour Day | Nationwide |
| 14 May | Thursday | President Kamuzu Banda's Birthday | Nationwide |
| 6 Jul | Monday | Independence Day | Nationwide |
| 15 Oct | Thursday | Mother's Day | Nationwide |
| 25 Dec | Friday | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
| 28 Dec | Monday | St. Stephen's Day
Boxing Day |
Nationwide |
2026 at a glance
January 2 holidays
February
March 1 holiday
April 2 holidays
May 2 holidays
June
July 1 holiday
August
September
October 1 holiday
November
December 2 holidays
Working days in each month
| Month | Days | Weekend | Holidays | Working | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 9 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 160 |
| March | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 152 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| July | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| August | 31 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| October | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| November | 30 | 9 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 2 | 21 | 168 |
| 2026 | 365 | 104 | 11 | 250 | 2,000 |
What the numbers say about Malawi in 2026
The count uses Saturday and Sunday as the weekly rest days, the standard pattern in Malawi. Only holidays that apply across the whole country are deducted. Someone working in a region with its own extra days will have a little more time off than these figures show.
June is the longest working month with 22 days, and May the shortest with 19. A gap of 3 days is enough to make a fixed monthly target noticeably harder in some months than in others. Across quarters, Q1 is the leanest at 61 working days (January, February, March).
Among the 204 countries we track for 2026, the median number of national holidays is 12. With 11, Malawi sits below the middle of the range, around the 37th percentile (the lowest count this year is 3, the highest 49).
Holidays create 4 stretches of three or more days off in a row. The longest lasts 4 days, from 3 April to 6 April (Good Friday, Easter Monday). There are also 5 bridge days: a single working day squeezed between a holiday and the weekend, where one day of leave turns into four or more days away. See every long weekend in 2026.