The Country Similarity Index attempts to quantify how similar countries are to each other relative to other countries. The index is a statistically-based way to measure this. 20% of the index is based on culture. 10% of a country’s culture score (2% of the overall Country Similarity Index score) is allocated for a country’s traditions, including their official holidays and marriage statistics.
Religious Holidays
In former the United Kingdom and British colonies, it is quite common for there only to be two public holidays for historically religious celebrations: Christmas and Easter. Other Catholic and Protestant countries tend to have more religious public holidays. Christmas and Easter are nearly universal. Pentecost, Halloween, Assumption Day, Ascension Day, and Epiphany are also common holidays. Orthodox Christian countries often do not celebrate Christmas in December and instead celebrate it in January. Easter is also celebrated on a different date than in Catholic and Protestant countries. In East Asia, most countries do not have public holidays for religion. The exception is South Korea, which celebrates Vesak Day and Christmas. Vesak, also known as Buddha Day, is often a public holiday in Southeast Asian countries. In Muslim countries, Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha are the most common public holidays. Most Turkic countries only have a public holiday for these two festivals. Other Muslim countries tend to have more religious public holidays. The most common ones include Mawlid, Ashura, Hijra, and Leilat al-Meiraj.
Officeholidays.com is the main source of the data:
https://www.officeholidays.com/countries/
Secular Holidays
In a vast majority of countries have a public holiday on New Year’s Day and Labor Day on May 1st. There are few other secular holidays celebrated in many countries. Spain and several countries in the Western Hemisphere celebrate Columbus Day in November. Former USSR countries often have public holidays for Women’s Day and Victory Day in May. The Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival are common holidays in East Asia. Nowruz, also known as Persian New Year, is celebrated in Albania, Iran, and various Turkic countries. The Queen’s Birthday is a public holiday in several former British colonies, especially in Oceania. In Caribbean countries, Emancipation Day is a common holiday, commemorating the abolition of slavery. Midsummer’s Eve is often celebrated in countries around the Baltic Sea. Armistice Day is a public holiday in many countries that were involved in World War 1. Israel is one of the few countries that does not have any secular public holidays, perhaps because they already have many religious holidays filling their calendar.
Officeholidays.com is the main source of the data:
https://www.officeholidays.com/countries/
Married People
There is a large difference in the percentage of married people between different countries. Bhutan has the highest percentage at around 80%. However, there are many countries that have a percentage less than half of that. Jamaica has one of the lowest percentages at around 30%. A lot of countries in the Caribbean and Europe also have a low percentage.
The United Nations is the main source of the data:
http://chartsbin.com/view/3214
Countries were categorized into the following groups by percentage of married people:
30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-90
Divorced People
The percentage of divorced people is far lower worldwide, but varies dramatically. It is also important to realize that this is not the same as divorce rate, which is only concerned with the percentage of marriages that end in divorce. If a country has a low marriage rate, then it may also have a low percentage of divorced people, despite having a high divorce rate. Eastern Europe tends to have a high number of divorced people. While due to religious reasons, many Muslim countries have low divorce rates.
The United Nations is the main source of the data:
http://chartsbin.com/view/3209
Countries were categorized into the following groups by percentage of divorced people:
5-7.5, 7.5-10, 10-12.5, 12.5-15, 15-17.5, 17.5-20
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