France tops annual leave table

France suffered the embarrassment of finishing bottom of their World Cup group, but they have come top of one table, which adds to their work-shy stereotype.

The French take an average of 34.5 days of annual leave per year, which is considerably above the other nations surveyed by travel company Expedia.

Brits seems to be forever battling with managing their holiday days, which often presents a problem when organising a stag do and whether to take off Friday, Monday or both. However, this must not be a problem with the French, while at the other end of the scale is the Japanese, who receive only 16.5 holiday days per year and incredibly only take an average of 9. Now that is commitment to your job!

Louise Crompton, Marketing Manager for Expedia.co.nz, said: "Scientific and medical research all point to the mental and physical health benefits of taking holidays. Taking holidays is an important component of working life and we should all take time out from our work so we do not burn out."

Holiday deprived nations

1 Japan 9
2 United States 14
3 Australia 16.5
4 New Zealand 17
5 Canada 18

Holiday rich nations

1 France 34.5
2 Spain 28.5
3 Denmark 26.5
4 Italy 26.5
5 Norway 26