Edition 2026

Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026

Name: Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026
Creator: World Bank Group
License: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses

Published 2026 · describes 2025 · stored as published, never rewritten

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.

Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026 covers 190 countries. Bulgaria is highest, at 410; 12 countries share the lowest reading, 0. The middle country reads 98. Against the 2024 edition, 13 values changed (11 up, 2 down), the same countries are covered.

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Length of Paid Maternity Leave · Edition 2026

HighestBulgaria

410

Lowest12 countries share it

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

190countries
1measure
2025the year it describes
34distinct valueswhole numbers, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 190 countries · select a heading to sort

Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026: every country, as published by World Bank Group.

Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	410
Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	365
Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	365
Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	270
Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	270
North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	270
Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	238
Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	208
Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	196
Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	182
India`IND`Southern Asia	182
Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	182
Venezuela`VEN`South America	182
Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	180
Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	180
Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	180
Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	168
China`CHN`Eastern Asia	158
Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	154
Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	150
Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	150
San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	150
Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	140
Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	140
Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	140
Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	140
Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	140
Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	135
Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	133
Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	126
Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	126
Chile`CHL`South America	126
Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	126
Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	126
Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	126
Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	126
Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	126
Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	126
Paraguay`PRY`South America	126
Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	126
Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	126
Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	126
Brazil`BRA`South America	120
Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	120
Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	120
Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	120
Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	120
South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	120
Syria`SYR`Western Asia	120
Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	119
Austria`AUT`Western Europe	112
Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	112
El Salvador`SLV`Central America	112
France`FRA`Western Europe	112
Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	112
Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	112
Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	112
Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	112
Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	112
Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	112
Suriname`SUR`South America	112
Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	112
Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	105
Canada`CAN`Northern America	105
Israel`ISR`Western Asia	105
Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	105
Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	105
Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	105
Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	105
Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	100
Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	98
Belize`BLZ`Central America	98
Benin`BEN`Western Africa	98
Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	98
Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	98
Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	98
Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	98
Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	98
Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	98
Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	98
DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	98
Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	98
Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	98
Germany`DEU`Western Europe	98
Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	98
Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	98
Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	98
Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	98
Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	98
Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	98
Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	98
Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	98
Mali`MLI`Western Africa	98
Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	98
Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	98
Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	98
Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	98
Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	98
Niger`NER`Western Africa	98
Oman`OMN`Western Asia	98
Panama`PAN`Central America	98
Peru`PER`South America	98
Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	98
Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	98
Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	98
Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	98
Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	98
Togo`TGO`Western Africa	98
Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	98
Uruguay`URY`South America	98
Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	98
Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	98
Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	91
Guyana`GUY`South America	91
Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	91
Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	91
Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	91
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	91
Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	90
Argentina`ARG`South America	90
Bolivia`BOL`South America	90
Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	90
Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	90
Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	90
Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	90
Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	90
Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	90
Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	90
São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	90
South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	90
South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	90
Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	90
Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	84
Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	84
Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	84
Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	84
Colombia`COL`South America	84
Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	84
Ecuador`ECU`South America	84
Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	84
Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	84
Guatemala`GTM`Central America	84
Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	84
Honduras`HND`Central America	84
Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	84
Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	84
Mexico`MEX`Central America	84
Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	84
Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	84
Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	84
Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	84
Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	84
Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	84
Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	84
Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	84
Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	84
Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	70
Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	70
Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	70
Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	70
Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	70
Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	70
Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	60
Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	60
Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	60
Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	60
United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	60
Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	56
Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	56
Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	56
Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	56
Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	56
Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	56
Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	50
United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	42
Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	30
Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	28
Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	14
Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0
Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0
Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	0
Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	0
New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0
Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0
Palau`PLW`Micronesia	0
Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0
Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0
Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0
Tonga`TON`Polynesia	0
United States`USA`Northern America	0

02In 2025

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

Bulgaria410
Albaniashared365
Bosnia and Herzegovinashared365
Iranshared270
North Macedoniashared270

Lowest

United Statesshared0
Tongashared0
Swedenshared0
Portugalshared0
Papua New Guineashared0

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 98. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032024 → 2026

Since the 2024 edition

+0 / −0countries joined / left
13values changed, of 190 in both
11 · 2rose · fell
177unchanged

Rose most

Algeria98 → 150+52
Cabo Verde60 → 90+30
Egypt90 → 120+30
Mozambique60 → 90+30
Cyprus126 → 154+28

Fell most

Afghanistan90 → 0−90
São Tomé and Príncipe98 → 90−8

Changes in value, not in places: a country’s place also moves when others do.

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

This edition describes 2025
World Bank Group names each edition for the year it is released; the figures in Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026 are for 2025.
34 distinct values among 190
Values are stored exactly as published. 42 countries share 98. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 190 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
190 rows · 4.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download maternity-leave-2026-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
World Bank Group’s own file, on its own site.
2026-02-26-WBL-2026-1-0-Scores-Values_F.xlsx

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

World Bank Group (2026). Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2026 [data set], describing 2025. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/maternity-leave/2026

0655 held

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Length of Paid Maternity Leave 2024
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