Dataset · World Bank Group
Length of Paid Maternity Leave
55 editions, 1971–2026 · 190 countries
This is how many calendar days of paid leave a country's law grants a mother around the birth of a child, as recorded by the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law project for the same economies every year since 1970.
This site holds every edition from 1971 to 2026 (the newest describes 2025), read from World Bank Group’s own data and stored exactly as published.
Length of Paid Maternity Leave · the file
- Newest
- Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026 · describes 2025
- Held
- 55 editions · 10,450 rows
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
0155 editions
Every edition
Newest first. Each opens the full table for that edition, and each downloads as a CSV.
| Edition | Describes | Countries | Change | Read | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026Newest | 2025 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2024 | 2023 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2023 | 2022 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2022 | 2021 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2021 | 2020 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2020 | 2019 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2019 | 2018 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2018 | 2017 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2017 | 2016 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2016 | 2015 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2015 | 2014 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2014 | 2013 | 190 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
Show all 55 editions
Every edition in one file, one row per country per edition: maternity-leave-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv
023 columns
What’s in the file
Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.
| Column | What it holds | Stored as | Range, 2026 | Distinct | Empty | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
EconomycountryName | The country’s name, as this file spells it. | Text | — | 190 | 0 | |
ISO Codecountry_codeIdentifier | The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it. | Text · 3 letters | — | 190 | 0 | |
Paid maternity leave (calendar days)maternity_leave_daysHeadline | The headline figure: Paid maternity leave set in law (calendar days). | Number · whole numbers | 012 share it410 | 34 | 0 |
Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. A higher value is the better result.
03190 countries across every edition
Who is covered
How many countries each edition holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 |
| Americas | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 |
| Asia | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 |
| Europe | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 |
| Oceania | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| All | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 |
The newest 12 of 55 editions.
The same 190 countries in every edition.
Not in this dataset · 35 places this site covers
World Bank Group gives no figure for these in any edition held here. It is the publisher’s choice of scope, and each place’s profile shows what is measured.
04Provenance
Where it comes from
The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.
1 · Publisher
World Bank Group
2 · Their file
Length of Paid Maternity Leave, Women, Business and the Law 2026
3 · Read by this site
September 29, 2026
Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.4 · Stored as
55 files, one per edition
Each downloads as a CSV, or every edition together as maternity-leave-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv5 · Used on
Its statistic page, and every profile it measures
Precision
The headline is stored in whole numbers, as published.
Rounded by this site
Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.
Changed by this site
Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.
The World Bank's Women, Business and the Law data: the historical panel for 1971–2024 and the WBL 2026 file for the latest year, stored exactly as each was published.
05Reuse
Licence and credit
What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.
Licence · checked September 29, 2026
- Share and redistribute it
- Adapt it and build on it
- Use it commercially
- Credit the publisher
- Say what you changed
Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.
A credit line
Source: World Bank Group, Length of Paid Maternity Leave, via Nations Inquiry.
Cite this dataset
World Bank Group. Length of Paid Maternity Leave, 1971–2026 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/maternity-leave
The publisher’s own citation: World Bank. Women, Business and the Law. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.
06Where it is used
Around the site
Where these numbers appear on this site, and the datasets nearest to it.
Charted
Length of Paid Maternity Leave by countryWho is highest, the map, the spread, who rose and fell, and the records.
Subjects
Near neighbours
- Women, Business and the LawWorld Bank Group · 55 held · 1971–2026
- Women's Political Empowerment IndexV-Dem Institute · 36 held · 1990–2025
- Social Institutions and Gender IndexOECD · 1 held · 2023
07Questions
Length of Paid Maternity Leave: questions and answers
What is the Length of Paid Maternity Leave?
This is how many calendar days of paid leave a country's law grants a mother around the birth of a child, as recorded by the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law project for the same economies every year since 1970.
Which editions of the Length of Paid Maternity Leave can I download?
All 55, from 1971 to 2026, each as a CSV file, or every edition together in one CSV.
Why does Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026 describe 2025?
World Bank Group names each edition for the year it is released, and builds it from figures for an earlier year. Every page here shows both years.
Does World Bank Group rank countries on it?
No, and this site does not order it either. The files hold values only.
Can I use it commercially?
Yes, under CC BY 4.0, with credit to World Bank Group. The licence text is linked on this page.