Forget Google’s celebrated five-month maternity leave. If you lived in one of these nine countries, you’d have a year off (much of it, paid) to spend with your brand-new family member.
Here a few facts to ponder, while negotiating your time off with your boss:
1. Sweden offers the most generous maternity leave policy, with 56 weeks paid at 80 percent of citizens’ salary, and 13 additional weeks paid at a fixed rate thereafter.
2. In some central European countries, the standard maternity leave is three years.
3. Adoptive parents and same-sex parents get parental leave in the U.K., Canada, France, and yes, Sweden.
4. There is still zero mandated maternity leave benefits in the U.S., although companies with over 50 employees are obligated to offer three months of unpaid time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
5. This makes the U.S. one of only four countries in the world with no required paid maternity leave. The others are Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea.
(Infographic via The Huffington Post)
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