Paid parental leave in OECD and EU countries: weeks versus pay
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Czechia and the Slovak Republic offer mothers 164 weeks of paid leave, but Romania's 104.3 weeks are worth more once pay is counted. The OECD's full-rate equivalent shows which countries pay well and which pay little for a long time, for mothers and for fathers.
The number of weeks a country offers new parents is the figure most people compare. It can be misleading. In Finland, a mother can take 161 weeks of paid leave, but the payments replace on average about a quarter of previous earnings. Counted as weeks at full pay, those 161 weeks are worth 39.7. In Romania, 104.3 weeks paid at 85% are worth 88.7, the most of the 43 countries in the OECD's comparison.
These figures come from the OECD Family Database, indicator PF2.1 on parental leave systems, updated in May 2026. They describe entitlements in place in April 2025 for the 38 OECD countries plus Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta and Romania.
How the OECD measures it
The OECD counts the weeks of leave for which at least some payment is available: maternity and paternity leave, parental leave and, in some countries, home care leave for young children. It then calculates the average payment rate over that period for a parent on national average earnings.
The full-rate equivalent combines the two. In the OECD's words, it is the length of the paid leave in weeks if it were paid at 100% of previous earnings: weeks multiplied by the average payment rate. Ten weeks at 50% and five weeks at 100% both count as five.
The OECD reports leave for mothers and for fathers separately. For mothers, it counts all paid leave available to them, including parental leave that can be shared. For fathers, it counts only leave reserved for them, which cannot be transferred to the mother. The two columns should not be added together.
Mothers: the ten highest full-rate equivalents
| Country | Paid weeks | Average payment rate | Full-rate equivalent (weeks) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | 104.3 | 85% | 88.7 |
| Estonia | 82.1 | 100% | 82.1 |
| Hungary | 160.0 | 47.4% | 75.9 |
| Bulgaria | 110.4 | 63.5% | 70.1 |
| Slovak Republic | 164.0 | 40.3% | 66.1 |
| Croatia | 56.0 | 100% | 56.0 |
| Lithuania | 79.7 | 65.9% | 52.5 |
| Slovenia | 52.1 | 100% | 52.1 |
| Czechia | 164.0 | 30.9% | 50.6 |
| Korea | 90.9 | 52.4% | 47.6 |
Long and low paid. Czechia and the Slovak Republic offer the most weeks, 164 each, and Finland is third with 161. In full-rate equivalent they fall to 9th, 5th and 14th. Hungary drops less, from 160 weeks to 75.9, third place.
Shorter and fully paid. Estonia pays 100% across 82.1 weeks, and Croatia and Slovenia pay 100% across 56.0 and 52.1 weeks. All three end up above Czechia.
At the bottom. The United States is the only OECD country with no statutory entitlement to paid leave at the national level, so its figure is zero. In the United Kingdom, mothers can take 39 weeks of paid maternity leave at an average rate of 29.9%, a full-rate equivalent of 11.7.
Fathers: the ten highest full-rate equivalents
| Country | Paid weeks reserved for fathers | Average payment rate | Full-rate equivalent (weeks) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Korea | 82.0 | 50.1% | 41.0 |
| Japan | 52.0 | 60.7% | 31.6 |
| Slovak Republic | 28.0 | 75% | 21.0 |
| Luxembourg | 28.0 | 73.1% | 20.5 |
| Iceland | 20.0 | 80% | 16.0 |
| Spain | 16.0 | 100% | 16.0 |
| Norway | 15.0 | 97.4% | 14.6 |
| Portugal | 22.3 | 65% | 14.5 |
| Croatia | 12.7 | 100% | 12.7 |
| Netherlands | 15.0 | 75.5% | 11.3 |
Leave reserved for fathers is much shorter. The OECD average is 13.4 weeks, against 54.9 weeks of paid leave available to mothers. Korea, with 82 weeks, offers the longest father-specific leave in the OECD. Israel, New Zealand and the United States reserve no paid leave for fathers.
The same pattern of weeks against pay appears here. France reserves 30.2 weeks for fathers, the third longest, but at an average rate of 25.6% they are worth 7.7 weeks at full pay. Belgium's 21.3 weeks are worth 6.8. Spain's 16 weeks, all at full pay, are worth twice as much as France's.
What the comparison leaves out
- One family, one salary level. The OECD assumes a first child, both parents employed in the private sector, earning the national average, and that the mother uses any shareable leave.
- National rules only. Regional schemes such as those in Québec or California are not included.
- Gross and net are mixed. In some countries, including Austria, Chile, France and Germany, payments are based on net earnings, and the OECD warns that these rates should not be compared directly with rates based on gross earnings.
- Entitlement, not use. The tables show what parents can take, not how many actually take it.
How to use these figures
- Look at the full-rate equivalent first. It tells you how much income support the leave really provides.
- Then look at the weeks. A long, low paid period can still matter if job protection is what you need.
- Check who can use the leave. A shareable period shows up in the mother's column; leave reserved for the father is lost if he does not take it.
- Confirm with the national authority. Eligibility often depends on how long you have worked or contributed before the birth.
Our guide to the best countries to move to with a family covers schools, safety and health care as well. Country profiles: Romania, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland, South Korea, Japan, Spain, France and United Kingdom.