Singapore Public Holidays

Singapore's approach to declaring a holiday when it falls on a Sunday is notable: the following Monday is typically also given as a holiday, a real, specific scheduling rule distinct from several other countries' approaches to weekend-holiday overlaps.

Singapore's public holiday calendar deliberately reflects its multi-ethnic, multi-religious population, combining Chinese, Malay/Muslim, Indian/Hindu, and Christian observances into one shared national calendar rather than treating any single tradition as default.

National Day (August 9) marks Singapore's 1965 independence — notably a separation from Malaysia rather than from a colonial power directly, since Singapore had briefly been part of the Federation of Malaysia before becoming a fully separate, independent city-state.

Because Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Vesak Day, Hari Raya Haji, and Deepavali all follow lunar or lunisolar calendars, their exact dates shift every year and are deliberately excluded from this page's fixed-date table.

Singapore observes two consecutive days for Chinese New Year, reflecting the scale of its Chinese-majority population's most significant holiday, while several of its other religious holidays (Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali) are marked with a single statutory day, a real difference in observance length between the country's traditions.

Labour Day (May 1) and Christmas Day are the two fixed-date holidays most closely aligned with international convention, while the remainder of Singapore's calendar reflects observances specific to its Southeast Asian, multi-faith context rather than following any single external template.

Singapore's Good Friday holds full statutory status despite Christians being a minority of the population, a reflection of the country's colonial-era administrative calendar carrying forward into its modern multi-faith public holiday list alongside additions from its other major religious traditions.

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower publishes the following year's exact public holiday dates well in advance for movable observances tied to the Chinese, Islamic, and Hindu calendars, since it coordinates with the respective religious authorities to fix the precise Gregorian date rather than leaving it to independent calculation by each employer.

Singapore's Employment Act guarantees a substitute paid day off when a public holiday falls on a rest day (typically Sunday), following a similar principle to several other Commonwealth-influenced labor codes described elsewhere on this page, even though Singapore's own broader legal system draws on a distinctive mix of common-law and locally developed statute.

Deepavali (also called Diwali) in Singapore is set specifically to the Tamil Hindu community's calculation of the date, which can occasionally differ by a day from the date observed in North Indian Hindu tradition — a subtle real variation within a single festival's own global observance, not unique to Singapore but visible in how its official calendar states the date each year.

Singapore publishes its official holiday list roughly a year or more in advance for planning purposes, including projected dates for the movable lunar and lunisolar observances, though those projected dates for the Islamic calendar holidays are still subject to final confirmation closer to the actual date.

Singapore's compact land area and single-tier government structure mean there's no regional or state-level holiday variation at all within the country, a genuinely simpler structure than most of the larger countries covered on this page.

This single-tier structure makes Singapore's fixed-date table on this page a complete and reliable reference on its own for the non-movable holidays, unlike the several federally or provincially structured countries elsewhere on this site where a national-level table alone would be incomplete.

Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Vesak Day, Hari Raya Haji, and Deepavali follow lunar/lunisolar calendars and shift every year — treated separately as reference/awareness dates.

Source: Singapore Ministry of Manpower public holiday list, as of 2026-07-12.