A mother (or father) can take the longest maternity leave in Croatia (406 days of paid maternity leave), followed by Albania, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and the UK, where it is possible to receive maternity benefits up to 365 days. The worst situation is in Tunisia (30 days of paid maternity leave), Papua New Guinea (42 days) and the United Arab Emirates (45 days).
The top ten countries with the shortest maternity leave include Lebanon, Qatar, the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Nepal, Swaziland, Lesotho and, surprisingly to many people, the United States. Parents in the US can, as in Swaziland and Lesotho, take only 84 days of maternity leave. However, it is unpaid maternity leave which only employees working for companies with more than 50 employees are entitled to. This is a real exception among developed countries.
Regarding benefits for fathers of newborn babies, Iceland is the most generous country. New dads can spend up to 91 paid days with their newborn babies without this affecting the benefits for mothers.
In the UK, which recently introduced shared maternity leave, fathers are entitled to 14 days of paid "maternity leave". Shared maternity leave was also implemented in Sweden where parents can jointly take up to 480 days of maternity leave until their child is eight years of age.
How long do you think is the optimal length of maternity leave, and under what conditions?
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Article source Entrepreneur.com - website of a leading U.S. magazine for entrepreneurs