No matter what country you live in, time off work is a limited (and loved) resource.

It’s the time we spend on the much-anticipated Europe trip or visiting family overseas. With annual leave, we can jump to the islands with our kids, go abroad for a friend’s wedding or tick off a bucket-list experience.

Fortunately, Kiwis are some of the most satisfied people when it comes to how much time they take off, according to a long-standing annual study by Expedia.

The online travel company’s 24th Vacation Deprivation report recently surveyed 11,580 workers in the Asia-Pacific, North and South America, and Europe about their work and travel. Of the respondents, 507 were Kiwis and 1020 were Australians.

More than half (55%) of Kiwis felt they did not take enough holiday time, however, this made them the second least ‘vacation deprived’ of the study.

The most satisfied country according to holiday time was Japan, with only 53% stating they didn’t have enough of it.

Australia was next to New Zealand, with 57% reporting they were ‘vacation deprived’.

This score puts New Zealand below the average score of 62 per cent and far apart from Germany, where 84% of people felt short-changed in the holiday department.

Expedia did not explain New Zealand’s relatively low score. One factor could be New Zealand’s healthy number of public holidays, which provide 11 working days off (12 including regional holidays) in addition to the typical 21 days of annual leave.

The simple way Kiwis can be less deprived

There is one way the 55% of Kiwis feeling deprived could improve their situation; use all of their leave.

Of the 21 days most New Zealanders can take, people typically had three days left unused. Australians also took an average of 18 annual leave days out of 21.

Gen Z Kiwis advised to ‘adopt a boomer mindset’

When it came to different-aged Kiwis, Gen Zers in New Zealand claimed to be more vacation-deprived than any other generation.

Almost half (43%) of Kiwi Gen Z workers surveyed said they didn’t feel they had time off, compared to 25% of Baby Boomers.

The feeling of not having enough holiday time is likely because they don’t take it; 43% of Gen-Zers went six months or more between holidays and only 2% took time off every month.

In comparison, 7% of Boomers took time off every month and 64% didn’t let six months go by between holidays.

The main thing keeping young workers from booking a holiday was, alleged, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Half (49%) of Gen Zers said they struggled to take time off in case something important happened at work.

Only 21% of Boomers had the same concern.

Similarly, guilt also played a factor, with 55% of Gen Zers saying they felt guilty about co-workers having to cover their work while they were on holiday. As a result, more than half (54%) felt the need to apologise for taking leave.