Good practice

Denmark's Earmarked Parental Leave for Fathers — Act No. 679/2022

Denmark · Copenhagen · See the Denmark profile

Denmark's 2022 law earmarks 11 weeks of non-transferable paid leave for each parent. Fathers' average leave doubled from ~5 to ~10 weeks in 2023; by July 2025, 60% more fathers claimed benefits than in July 2022, and the parental income gap between partners narrowed.

11 weeks

Earmarked non-transferable leave per parent

~5 → ~10 weeks

Fathers' average leave (2023)

+60%

Increase in fathers claiming benefits (by July 2025 vs July 2022)

Denmark's Earmarked Parental Leave for Fathers — Act No. 679/2022

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Beskæftigelsesministeriet (Ministry of Employment)
Period: 2022-present
Keywords: parental leave, fathers' rights, care work, work-life balance, gender equality

Context

Denmark's 2022 law (Act No. 679/2022) earmarks 11 weeks of non-transferable paid leave for each parent.

Results

Fathers' average leave doubled from about 5 to about 10 weeks in 2023 and, by July 2025, 60% more fathers claimed benefits than in July 2022, narrowing the parental income gap between partners.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
Beskæftigelsesministeriet (Ministry of Employment) — accessed 2026-06-21
The Local: Men take more parental leave under new rules (2024) — accessed 2026-06-21
CBS Copenhagen Business School: Eleven weeks that shifted the norms — accessed 2026-06-21
Nordic Council: Parental leave in Denmark 2025 comparative report — accessed 2026-06-21
Ritzau/CPH Post: More men on paternity leave after 3 years of earmarking — accessed 2026-06-21

Attachments

Source image

Quality score: 96/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 4% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

Directly implements EU Directive 2019/1158 and builds on the Nordic earmarked-leave model; monitored by the Nordic Council of Ministers as a test case for mandatory earmarking in EU member states.

Impact on gender equality1/1

Fathers' average leave doubled (5 → 10 weeks) within one year; income gap between parents narrowed in child's first year; 60% more men claiming benefits by July 2025.

Effectiveness1/1

76% of fathers in the post-reform cohort took the full 11-week entitlement or more, and Statistics Denmark shows a rapid, sustained increase in uptake.

Efficiency1/1

Reform rebalanced existing parental benefit entitlements without requiring new budget outlays; use-it-or-lose-it mechanism minimises administrative complexity.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

Statistics Denmark administrative data, Nordic Council comparative research (temanord2025-547), CBS Copenhagen Business School qualitative and quantitative analysis, and Danish news agency Ritzau all document outcomes.

Sustainability1/1

Law embedded in Danish consolidated act on parental leave since 2022; no proposed reversal; Nordic Council monitoring ensures long-term tracking.

Achievement / evidence1/1

24,144 men on parental benefits in July 2025; average father's leave doubled in year one; income gap narrowed — all verified through Statistics Denmark administrative records.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

Non-transferable weeks structurally encode gender-equal parenting as a legislative norm, not an optional individual choice, directly targeting unequal care division.

Curator validation1/1

Sources include Statistics Denmark administrative data, CBS Copenhagen Business School, Nordic Council of Ministers 2025 report (temanord2025-547) and Danish agency Ritzau — all primary or authoritative secondary sources.

Cite this

Evidoria. Denmark's Earmarked Parental Leave for Fathers — Act No. 679/2022. Persistent ID: 5e9987de-fb73-454b-b5b0-50e7f5e26e30.

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