Paternity Leave by Country: A 2026 Guide for Global Employers

Paternity leave by country ranges from several months of paid leave in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Iceland, to no federal mandate in the United States. Most OECD countries fall between two and four weeks at partial or full pay, and the rules change faster than most employers can track.

This guide compares 2026 statutory paternity leave across 25 countries that multinational employers most often hire in. Each entry covers payment rates, eligibility, and recent reforms. HR and operations leaders managing employees in more than one market and finance leaders evaluating the total cost of cross-border headcount will want to take this information into consideration when planning.

What is paternity leave? 

Paternity leave is paid or unpaid time off that a father or non-birthing partner can take to care for a newborn or newly placed child. Paternity leave is also available for the care of children up to a certain age in some countries. It sits separately from maternity leave, which is the birth parent's entitlement, and from parental leave, which both parents typically share.

Most countries treat paternity leave as a statutory right with a defined duration, payment rate, and eligibility window. The International Labour Organization tracks 107 countries that extend paternity leave to fathers, with 47 of those offering more than four weeks.

How paternity leave is structured around the world

Three structural models dominate in 2026.

• Dedicated paternity leave: A specific entitlement reserved for fathers or non-birthing partners. Spain (19 weeks), Iceland (six months), and Portugal (28 to 35 days) follow this model. Japan offers four weeks at birth and up to 360 days of childcare leave after that. In Sweden, 90 days of paid leave are reserved for the father (or non-birthing parent) and an additional 10 days are available in connection with the child’s birth. In Norway, a “father’s quota” of 15 weeks of dedicated, non-transferrable leave is available.
• Shared parental leave: Some countries provide a pool of leave that either parent can use. Iceland (through a transferable component) and Canada use this approach.
• Partner leave: Short, post-birth leave for the non-birthing partner, often added to a broader parental leave system, though the allowance may be for job-protected leave rather than paid leave. The Netherlands and Germany follow this pattern.

The model matters for employers because each structure produces different payroll, scheduling, and benefits-continuation obligations, even when the headline number of leave days looks similar across markets.

Who is eligible for paternity leave

Eligibility rules vary, but most countries cover the following categories:

• Biological fathers
• Adoptive fathers, often with the same entitlement as biological fathers
• Same-sex partners and non-birthing co-parents, where the country recognizes the relationship
• Foster parents in some jurisdictions

Many countries require a minimum length of employment or social security contribution history before paternity benefits pay out. Some restrict eligibility to specific family structures. The EU Work-Life Balance Directive requires member states to make paternity leave available regardless of marital or family status, though national implementation still varies.

Paternity leave by country: 2026 statutory entitlements

The 25 countries below cover the markets where multinational employers most often hire. Entitlements are statutory minimums effective in 2026 and reflect any reforms in force as of January 2026. Many countries permit employer-funded top-ups above the statutory floor.

Paternity leave comparison table (2026)

Iceland: six months dedicated, 80% of salary

Iceland is the global benchmark for paternity leave in 2026. Each parent has an independent six-month entitlement to parental leave, with up to six weeks transferable between them. The Maternity and Paternity Leave Fund pays 80% of the parent's average total salary, capped at 900,000 ISK per month in 2026. Parents must be active in the Icelandic labor market for at least six months before the birth to qualify for the salary-based benefit. Leave rights expire when the child reaches 24 months.

Spain: 19 weeks at full pay

Spain expanded paternity leave from 16 to 19 weeks effective July 2025 under a gender-neutral system officially called birth and childcare leave (permiso por nacimiento y cuidado del menor). Each parent in a two-parent family receives 19 weeks at 100% of salary, paid by Social Security. Two of the three additional weeks added in 2025 can be taken any time up to the child's eighth birthday. Single parents receive 32 weeks total.

Sweden: 90 reserved days plus shared pool

Swedish parents share a 480-day parental benefit pool per child. Of those days, 90 are reserved for each parent and cannot be transferred. For the first 390 days, parents typically receive 80% of salary, subject to a cap. For the remaining 90 days, workers are paid at a rate of 180 SEK per day. Fathers and non-birthing parents also receive 10 days of connection-with-birth leave, which must be used within 60 days of the child coming home.

Slovenia: 30 calendar days at full pay

Slovenia provides 30 calendar days of paternity leave at 100% of the calculation basis, capped at 2.5 times the average monthly wage. The first 15 days must be taken before the child reaches six months. The remaining 15 days can be claimed any time before the child finishes the first grade of primary school. The Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia pays the benefit.

Estonia: 30 calendar days plus 435 days shared parental leave

Estonian fathers receive 30 calendar days of paternity leave, available from 30 days before the estimated due date until the child's third birthday. The paternity benefit pays at 100% of average income, with a maximum rate of €3,806.10 EUR per month from January 2026. Estonia also provides 435 days of shared parental benefit between both parents.

Lithuania: 30 days at 77.58% of salary

Lithuanian fathers receive 30 days of paid paternity leave, which must be used before the child turns one year old. SODRA pays the benefit at 77.58% of the employee's average salary. The leave can be taken as a single block or split into two parts. Employees must have made social security contributions for at least 12 of the 24 months preceding the leave to qualify.

Portugal: 28 mandatory plus seven optional days, full pay

Portugal raised statutory paternity leave from 20 to 28 days in 2023, with an additional seven optional days. The first seven days must be taken immediately after the birth. The remaining 21 mandatory days must be taken during the 42 days of the mother's parental leave, in blocks of at least seven consecutive days. Paternity allowance pays at 100% of reference remuneration through social security.

Norway: 15 weeks reserved father's quota

Norway's father's quota (fedrekvote) is 15 weeks reserved exclusively for the father or co-parent, either at 100% pay or 19 weeks at 80% pay. The quota operates on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. It can be taken any time from the seventh week after birth up to the child's third birthday and can be split into multiple periods. About 70% of eligible Norwegian fathers take the full quota.

Netherlands: one week paid plus five weeks additional partner leave

Dutch partners receive one week of standard partner leave (geboorteverlof) within the first four weeks after birth, paid at 100% by the employer. Partners can then take up to five additional weeks of paternity leave (aanvullend geboorteverlof) within six months of birth, paid at 70% of salary through UWV. The five additional weeks require a four-week advance request.

France: 28 days total, with new birth leave from July 2026

France offers 28 days of paternity leave: three days of mandatory birth leave paid by the employer, plus 25 days paid by social security. Both pay at 100% of salary. From July 2026, a new birth leave law will provide one to two additional months of leave per parent, voted as part of the 2026 social security funding law. The reform represents the most significant expansion of French parental leave in more than a decade.

Japan: four weeks postpartum, 80% wage replacement when both parents take leave

Japanese fathers can take up to four weeks of postpartum paternity leave (sango papa ikukyu) within the first eight weeks after birth, split into up to two periods. The leave pays at 67% of salary through employment insurance. An April 2025 reform added a 13% top-up benefit when both parents each take at least 14 days of qualifying leave, bringing total replacement to 80%. Japan also offers up to 52 weeks of standard childcare leave (ikukyu) shared between parents.

United Kingdom: two weeks, day-one right from April 2026

From April 2026, UK statutory paternity leave became a day-one employment right. Eligible employees still need 26 weeks of continuous service for Statutory Paternity Pay. The two-week entitlement pays at £194.32 GBP per week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The two weeks can be split into two separate single weeks taken any time within 52 weeks of birth or placement.

Other countries on the table

The full table above also covers Canada (federal and Quebec), Belgium, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, India, Ireland, Italy, Germany, and Finland with current 2026 entitlements. Each of these markets has either added or extended paternity entitlements within the past three years, which is why an annually refreshed comparison matters more than a static legacy list.

What changes when paternity leave crosses borders

Statutory entitlements are only the floor. Operational complexity for multinational employers comes from four factors that vary regardless independently of headline leave days. Payroll calculation: Some countries pay through the employer with later reimbursement, including the UK and the Netherlands, in week one. Others pay directly from a state fund, including Spain, Iceland, and Sweden. Cash-flow timing, gross-to-net handling, and tax treatment differ in each case. Without local payroll expertise, the employer either advances cash incorrectly or under-withholds tax. Benefits continuation: Pension contributions, healthcare coverage, and annual leave accrual during paternity leave all follow different rules in every country. In Germany, Elternzeit pauses the employment relationship without breaking it. In France, paternity leave counts as actual work for seniority and vacation accrual. Misapplying the rule on benefits continuation creates back-pay and back-contribution liabilities that surface years later. Eligibility verification: Some countries require minimum social security contribution history, including Lithuania and Iceland. Others restrict eligibility to specific family structures, and some markets still exclude same-sex partners. A multinational employer cannot apply a single eligibility rule across the workforce without exposing itself to discrimination claims in some markets and overpayment in others. Statutory change tracking: France, Spain, the UK, Japan, Italy, Singapore, and Belgium have all reformed paternity leave within the past three years. Most reforms take effect on national social security funding cycles that do not align with calendar quarters. An HR team that updates its global leave policy once a year risks falling out of date in several markets within months of every update. Safeguard Global manages paternity leave administration in 187 countries through Employer of Record solutions and Global Pay. Our 400+ in-country experts track statutory changes as they happen.

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