If you feel overworked and under-vacationed, over half the country is one with you on this. In a global study by an online travel agency India is ranked the 4th most vacation-starved country with 65% of those polled complaining of not enough R&R. Only the UAE (76%), Malaysia (73%) and Singapore (71%) have it worse.

“The feeling of being deprived of a holiday comes from 68% Indians having to cancel or postpone their vacation due to work commitments,” says Manmeet Ahluwalia, India marketing head of Expedia, the company that ran the survey. “The interesting fact is that while their bosses are more inclined to letting them holiday (70% up from 64% last year), they take fewer days off than their assigned quota (in both 2015 and 2014, vacation time was an average of 16 days). It turns out Indians are addicted to their work. This could also be imputed to the fact that the work environment is more competitive,” reasons Ahluwalia.

The survey was conducted online from October 6 – 22, 2015 among 9,273 employed adults aged 18 years and older in 26 countries across North America, Europe, South America and Asia Pacific. Globally, the survey found 11% ‘strongly agreeing’ they couldn’t utilize their entire annual holiday quota because they were so busy at work. Indians scored the highest on this metric, with 23%. Thailand, UAE and Mexico at 16%, and Malaysia at 15% were close behind.

Highlighting the workaholic nature of Indians Janet Halliday, senior vice president, Northstar, a global integrated strategic insights consulting firm that conducted the survey says, “We have conducted this survey for the last two years and Indians have ranked among the most vacation-deprived both years.”

Guilt associated with shirking work also plays a huge role in Indians taking shorter vacations. “We found 10% Indians saying they feel too guilty to take a vacation, or if they do, it’s shorter than their allotted days. Furthermore, at 68% India is 20 points higher than the global average on vacations cancelled or postponed due to work,” she says.

Missing out on key work opportunities is another deciding factor. “Despite bosses being more compassionate, 18% Indians worry important work decisions will be made without them if they vacation. Only 13% of those polled in Malaysia and Brazil and 12% in Hong Kong had such worries,” says Ahluwalia. Other factors eating into vacation time is the desire to bank/carry over days to the next year for a longer vacation, perhaps indicative of life lessons we’ve had on saving for a rainy day. The Swedes at 41% have the highest tendency to bank their holidays, followed by Indians at 32% and Singaporeans at 30%.

Often leave is utilized in recuperating from illnesses. Instead of a massage bed, 10% Indians admitted to having spent their entire holiday allowance on a sickbed, followed by USA, Mexico, Malaysia (8%) and Thailand (7%).

Prashant Bhaskar, founder, Plug HR, a strategic HR consulting firm that covers 300 companies across India, says that unlike the West, Indians regard holidays differently. “The structure of the family – parents and extended relatives, makes it more convenient for Indians to take shorter breaks to celebrate festivals, than longer ones like their Western counterparts,” says Bhaskar, adding that Indians have always worked harder. “It is only over the last 10 years that a 5-day week has come to be accepted by all industries. Flexibility of work, and portability allowed by the Internet have made it easier for us to vacation compared to our parents. But then they managed longer breaks than us,” he says.

The lure of a longer vacation however is definitely strong among working Indians, as the survey also found that 54% Indians would still prefer more vacation days over a pay rise, the highest globally.