The International Network on Leave Policies and Research has been producing an annual review of leave policies and related research since 2005 (for earlier reviews, go to the network’s website www.leavenetwork.org). The content of the review is to the best of our knowledge correct at the time of going to press, but mistakes may occur. If you should have a query or find an error, we would be grateful if you would contact the country note authors as relevant and the editors. We recommend that readers consult the most recent version of the review where possible, as we are unable to retrospectively rectify errors found more than 12 months from going to press.
The review covers Maternity, Paternity and Parental leaves; leave to care for sick children and other employment-related measures to support working parents; and early childhood education and care policy. As well as policies, it provides some information on publications and research. Please be aware that this is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all publications or research in this area for this country. If you are aware of a publication or research that could be listed in this section, please contact the country note author(s) so that they can include it for the following year.
The review is based on country notes from each participating country, prepared by members of the network and edited by one of the network’s coordinators. Each country note follows a standard format: details of different types of leave; the relationship between leave policy and early childhood education and care policy; recent policy developments; information on takeup of leave; recent publications and current research projects. The review also includes definitions of the main types of leave policies; and crosscountry comparisons. These comparative overviews cover: each main type of leave; total leave available; the relationship between leave and ECEC entitlements; and policy changes and developments since the previous review.
The 2017 review includes 2 new countries: Bulgaria and China. Altogether, it covers 42 countries. Including the new countries, these are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Uruguay.
Download the report here.