Browse selected international observances

Search the listed dates and observance names. This selection is not a country-specific public-holiday calendar or a complete list of international days.

Runs locally in your browser

Dates shown are recurring annual observances. Local public-holiday rules can differ by country and year.

DateObservance
24 JanInternational Day of Education
11 FebInternational Day of Women and Girls in Science
21 FebInternational Mother Language Day
8 MarInternational Women’s Day
20 MarInternational Day of Happiness
22 MarWorld Water Day
22 AprEarth Day
1 MayInternational Workers’ Day
17 MayWorld Telecommunication and Information Society Day
5 JunWorld Environment Day
20 JunWorld Refugee Day
12 AugInternational Youth Day
8 SepInternational Literacy Day
21 SepInternational Day of Peace
27 SepWorld Tourism Day
5 OctWorld Teachers’ Day
10 OctWorld Mental Health Day
24 OctUnited Nations Day
3 DecInternational Day of Persons with Disabilities
10 DecHuman Rights Day

20 of 20 observances

How to use this observance calendar

The table lists twenty international observances that fall on the same calendar date every year, from the International Day of Education on 24 January to Human Rights Day on 10 December. The date column follows the convention of the page language, so 8 March is written 8 Mar, 8 mar, 8. März, 8 mars or 3月8日.

The search box filters the table while you type: it reads the observance name in this language and in English, the month name, and the day number. The line under the table reports how many entries are left, and a query that matches nothing says so instead of showing an empty table.

  1. Type a month, for example March or Mar, to keep only the observances in that month.
  2. Type a day number, for example 21, to see every observance that falls on the 21st.
  3. Type a word from the name, in this language or in English - water or eau both find World Water Day.
  4. Clear the field to bring all twenty rows back.

What this calendar lists, how the search reads a query, and what it leaves out

The dates in this calendar

Every entry has a fixed date, which is why the table has no year column: World Water Day is 22 March, World Environment Day is 5 June and Human Rights Day is 10 December in every year.

Most entries are days proclaimed by the United Nations or by one of its agencies. A few are widely observed international days of a different origin: Earth Day on 22 April comes from the civil environmental movement, and the United Nations marks International Mother Earth Day on the same date under a separate name.

How the search reads a query

Your text is compared with the observance name in this language and in English, the month name in both languages, the day number, and both written forms of the date - so 21 September finds the International Day of Peace even though the date column is abbreviated to 21 Sep.

The comparison is a plain substring match, not a fuzzy one: water finds World Water Day, while a misspelling finds nothing. Rows always stay in calendar order, from January at the top to December at the bottom.

What the list leaves out

National public holidays are not included. Whether a date is a day off depends on the country, the region and the year, which is a different question from which international days exist.

Observances that follow a lunar or religious calendar - Easter, the Lunar New Year, Ramadan, Thanksgiving - move to a different date each year and are not listed here. The twenty rows are a selection of well-known fixed dates, not the complete list of United Nations international days.

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