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25 Countries with the Best Maternity and Paternity Leave
Zarah Hamid
12 min read

In This Article:

In this article, we will be navigating through the parental leave system across the world while covering the 25 countries with the best maternity and paternity leave. If you wish to skip our detailed analysis, you can move directly to the 5 Countries with the Best Maternity and Paternity Leave.

Parental Leaves Across the World

In order to transition to parenthood in the smoothest possible manner, employees around the world are granted leave. While maternity leave is granted to mothers around the time they give birth, paternity leave is reserved for fathers. Once these leaves end, parental leave is given to the new parents so they can look after their children during their early years.

Several countries in Northern and Eastern Europe ensure a full year of paid maternity leave. On the other extreme, some nations do not give paid family leave for both men and women. These include the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and Tonga.

US Leave System for New Parents at a Glance

Back in 1993, The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was introduced in the US to ensure job security while employees were on unpaid leave in situations such as serious illness, childbirth, care for a family member, or placement of one’s child in foster care or for adoption.

In the current scenario, the country is lagging behind other developed nations in this regard since there is no paid maternity or paternity leave at the federal level. In 2022, The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that only about 1 in 4 employees in the private sector workforce have access to paid family leave. More than 3 in 4 private sector employees do not have access to paid family leave. Furthermore, full-time employees tend to have better access to paid family leave than part-time workers.

However, the states within the US have passed paid family and medical leave laws including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. Other states such as Vermont and New Hampshire offer a voluntary opportunity to purchase insurance coverage rather than granting a right to paid leave. This allows employees in family raising.

The paternity leave scenario is still not in place since American fathers are not guaranteed paid paternity leave. While 12 weeks of unpaid leave are granted by FMLA, many of these fathers take off only 10 days or less after childbirth. At times, employers also require new fathers to work the same hours as before. An increasing emphasis has been placed on paid parental leave since it is expected to lower financial stress while ensuring gender equality as the father shares in childcare responsibilities. You can also look at some of the best long-term investments for a child.

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