Over 80% of NL residents want 5 May to be a public holiday

While Liberation Day on May 5 is a national holiday in the Netherlands, it is not a day off for everyone. The vast majority of Netherlands residents want this to change, with 83 percent thinking May 5 should be a paid day off for everyone, Hart van Nederland reports after surveying 3,900 people.

Whether you're working today or not largely depends on the agreements made in the collective labor agreement. People in crucial professions - healthcare, police, public transport - also have to work.

"Liberation Day should be seen every year as a national holiday with a day off. Freedom should be celebrated. We feel the war in Eastern Europe right now and know that people from Ukraine are praying every day on their knees for freedom. Let us, therefore, respect our freedom more," one respondent said in the Hart van Nederland poll.

Young people under 30 in particular support a day off for Liberation day at 90 percent. Among people over 50, 78 percent want Liberation Day to be a national holiday with a day off work. There was virtually no difference between how men and women felt about this.

The Netherlands has two types of holidays - religious holidays and national holidays. There are only two national holidays: King's Day on April 27 and Liberation Day on May 5. King's Day is already a paid day off for most people.