Recognising that childcare is not solely the responsibility of mothers and to promote gender equality, many countries across the globe offer official, paid paternity leave to support new fathers with Nordic countries leading the pack. fathers of a meaningful opportunity to participate in early childcare. Paternity leave allows fathers to support their wives, share household and caregiving responsibilities and remain emotionally present during the critical phase.
Sweden provides 480 days of paid parental leave when a child is born or adopted, which is shared between parents. Each parent is entitled to 240 of those days, some of which can be transferred to the other parent.
In Denmark, the mother is entitled to four weeks’ leave before the birth, while each parent can take upto 24 weeks’ (168 days) leave with parental benefit after the birth. Both parents are offered 52 weeks parental leave in total and can transfer some of the weeks of leave to the other parent.
Fathers in Iceland are offered one of the highest paternity leaves in the world as they end up having at least 180 off of work to take care of an infant child, according to World Population Review data 2026. Spanish fathers get 112 days of paternity leave, while Netherlands grants 42 days of leave.
As per the report, Japan offers up to four weeks of leave within eight weeks of birth, that is 28-day long paternity leave. Besides this, it offers up to a year of additional childcare leave while benefits generally cover about 67% of salary, making it some of the world’s most generous paternity leave. “Compensation totals 67% of the usual salary for 180 days and 50% for the remainder paid for by the government,” the report said.
To promote gender equality and shared child-rearing, another key country which provides substantial, often salary-matched leave, includes Finland that offers parental leave allowance for 160 working days. Each of the parent have the option to give up and turn over a maximum of 63 working days of their quota of total leaves to the primary care taking parent.
In Norway, parents are entitled to a total of 12 months’ leave, including the period before birth and after the birth of the child. “These 12 months include the mother’s right to leave for up to 12 weeks during the pregnancy and six weeks of leave reserved for the mother after the birth,” the official website states. It further mentions that 16- or 18-weeks leave is share-able.
Each of the parents can take one year of leave for each birth in addition to the first 12 months. Fathers are offered a dedicated, non-transferable quota of 15 weeks at 100% pay or 19 weeks at 80% pay in addition to two weeks’ leave after birth, called daddy days.
Country-wise paternity leave 2026
Paternity leave in India
In India, Central and state government employees are entitled to 15 days paid paternity leave which can be taken up to 15 days before or within six months after the child’s birth or adoption. However, no uniform statutory mandate exists for private sector employees, so policies depend on company policy. While certain companies like such as Zomato, TCS and Infosys offer formal paternity leave, many firms offer no formal childcare leaves to new fathers.
