Working days calculator

Count the working days between two dates, using your country's weekend and the public holidays in your period.

Weekends in the GCC

Private companies can set their own working week, so check yours.

How it is calculated

Working days = total days − weekend days − public holidays on working days

Worked examples

Example 1: a month in Riyadh

November 2026 starts on a Sunday. With a Friday–Saturday weekend there are 8 weekend days, leaving 22 working days.

Example 2: the same month in Dubai with a holiday

With a Saturday–Sunday weekend there are 9 weekend days. One public holiday on a weekday leaves 20 working days.

Example 3: a six-day week

A company that only closes on Fridays has 4 weekend days in November 2026, so 26 working days.

Example 4: a full year

2027 has 365 days. Before public holidays it has 260 working days with a Friday–Saturday weekend, 261 with Saturday–Sunday, and 312 with Friday only. Subtract the holidays that fall on your working days to get the final figure.

Example 5: a holiday that falls on a weekend

December 2026 has 23 working days in Qatar with a Friday–Saturday weekend. Qatar National Day, 18 December, falls on a Friday in 2026, so it is already a weekend day and you should not enter it as a holiday.

Example 6: a project deadline

A project runs from 15 November to 24 December 2026 in Riyadh. That is 40 calendar days, 10 of them Fridays or Saturdays, so the team has 30 working days.

Public holidays to plan around

• All GCC countries: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. They follow the Hijri calendar, so they come about 11 days earlier each year, and the number of days off is announced each year.
• Saudi Arabia: Founding Day (22 February) and National Day (23 September).
• UAE: New Year's Day, Islamic New Year, the Prophet's Birthday, Arafat Day, and the National Day holiday on 2 and 3 December (Cabinet Resolution No. 27 of 2024).
• Qatar: National Sports Day (the second Tuesday of February) and National Day (18 December).

Exact dates and lengths are set by official announcements each year, and private-sector holidays can differ from government ones. Use the Hijri date converter to estimate when Eid falls.

Weekends that don't fit the presets

Sharjah government employees have had a three-day weekend, Friday to Sunday, since 2022. To count it, choose Saturday–Sunday and enter the number of Fridays in your period as holidays. For February 2027 that is 20 working days minus 4 Fridays, so 16 working days. Shift workers can do the same: pick the closest preset and enter their extra days off as holidays.

Working days or calendar days?

Not every deadline counts working days. Notice periods in Gulf labour laws, for example, run in calendar days or months, so weekends count too. Before using this result, check whether your contract, a government service or a court deadline counts working days or calendar days. For notice periods, use the notice period calculator.

Common mistakes

• Leaving out the start or end date. Both are counted here.
• Counting a holiday that falls on a weekend. Only enter holidays that fall on working days.
• Using the old UAE weekend. The UAE moved from Friday–Saturday to Saturday–Sunday in 2022.
• Using the government holiday list for a private company. Private-sector holidays are announced separately and can be shorter.
• Counting working days for a calendar-day deadline. Check which kind of day the rule uses.

Frequently asked questions

Source: official weekends in the GCC countries. Public holidays are entered by you.

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