BBC – Capital – Parental leave: How rich countries compare

Which nations offer the best maternity leave? A new report from UNICEF has examined family-related guidelines and admission rates in the world's richest countries. The study looks at the amount of parental leave at full pay, as well as the delivery of kindergarten.

Surprisingly nobody, the Nordic region ranks highest when all categories are considered. In Norway and Sweden, almost all fathers take parental leave, according to Anna Gromada from Unicef's Research Council – Innocenti, who co-authored the report. But when it comes to parental leave, the best practitioner is Estonia, which provides the longest stretch of work-related maternity leave (85 weeks in full-scale equivalent).

In some places, parental allowances may be generous, but take-off stays remain low. Japan offers 30 weeks of paid leave for fathers, most of all the countries being studied. Yet very few fathers (1[ads1] in 20 in 2017) actually use it. In South Korea, which has the second longest father's leave, men accounted for only 17% of all parents who left in 2018, even after a national campaign that encouraged them to do so. British fathers rarely take up joint parental leave.

Some countries do not even have much in the direction of politics. Switzerland is among the rich countries that do not provide any danger-specific leave. "We see no connection between a country's wealth and how it is done on family-friendly policies," Gromada emphasizes.

The real outliner in terms of parental leave is the United States. "The United States is the only high-income country in the world that doesn't offer another day of maternity leave," Gromada says. Individual companies may provide some form of parental leave, but there are no statutory requirements. Unicef ​​recommends that the nations provide six-month statutory leave for parents.

How do the countries compare with all this? Take a look at the chart below to find out.