Zambia public holidays 2027
Zambia has 16 national public holidays in 2027. Take those and the weekends out of the calendar and 247 working days remain.
Holiday list for 2027
| Date | Weekday | Holiday | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | Friday | New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| 8 Mar | Monday | International Women's Day | Nationwide |
| 12 Mar | Friday | Youth Day | Nationwide |
| 26 Mar | Friday | Good Friday | Nationwide |
| 27 Mar | Saturday rest day | Holy Saturday
Easter Saturday |
Nationwide |
| 28 Mar | Sunday rest day | Easter Sunday | Nationwide |
| 29 Mar | Monday | Easter Monday | Nationwide |
| 28 Apr | Wednesday | Kenneth Kaunda's Birthday | Nationwide |
| 3 May | Monday | Labour Day | Nationwide |
| 25 May | Tuesday | African Freedom Day
Africa Freedom Day |
Nationwide |
| 5 Jul | Monday | Heroes' Day | Nationwide |
| 6 Jul | Tuesday | Unity Day | Nationwide |
| 2 Aug | Monday | Farmers' Day | Nationwide |
| 18 Oct | Monday | National Day of Prayer | Nationwide |
| 25 Oct | Monday | Independence Day | Nationwide |
| 27 Dec | Monday | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
2027 at a glance
January 1 holiday
February
March 6 holidays
April 1 holiday
May 2 holidays
June
July 2 holidays
August 1 holiday
September
October 2 holidays
November
December 1 holiday
Working days in each month
| Month | Days | Weekend | Holidays | Working | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 10 | 1 | 20 | 160 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 160 |
| March | 31 | 8 | 4 | 19 | 152 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 152 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| July | 31 | 9 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| August | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| October | 31 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 152 |
| November | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| 2027 | 365 | 104 | 14 | 247 | 1,976 |
What the numbers say about Zambia in 2027
The count uses Saturday and Sunday as the weekly rest days, the standard pattern in Zambia. 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.
2 holidays land on a rest day this year: Holy Saturday (27 Mar), Easter Sunday (28 Mar). On the calendar alone that means no extra time off. Some countries move the day off to the next working day; whether that applies here is set by national rules, so check before you plan around it.
June is the longest working month with 22 days, and October 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 59 working days (January, February, March).
2026 had 247working days, so 2027comes out exactly the same length.
Among the 204 countries we track for 2027, the median number of national holidays is 12. With 16, Zambia sits above the middle of the range, around the 87th percentile (the lowest count this year is 3, the highest 49).
Holidays create 10 stretches of three or more days off in a row. The longest lasts 4 days, from 26 March to 29 March (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday). There is also one bridge day: 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 2027.
12 holidays change date compared with 2026: International Women's Day, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Labour Day and more. Movable dates are the ones most often missed when last year's schedule is reused.