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Good practice

Norway's Fedrekvote (Father's Quota) — Reserved Parental Leave for Fathers

Norway · Oslo · See the Norway profile

Norway's 1993 father's quota (fedrekvote) reserves non-transferable paid parental leave for fathers, driving uptake from 2.4% (1992) to 90%. Expanded from 4 to 15 weeks, it is the global model for equalising care responsibilities between parents.

2.4% → ~90%
Father uptake of parental leave (1992–2010s)
4 → 15 weeks
Reserved father's quota

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Children and Families (Barne- og familiedepartementet)
Period
1993-present
Keywords
parental leave, care work, gender equality, work-life balance

Context

In 1993 Norway became the first country to introduce a non-transferable 'father's quota' (fedrekvote) of paid parental leave reserved for fathers and lost if unused. The original four-week quota was expanded over time to 15 weeks.

Results

Father uptake of parental leave rose from 2.4% (1992) to roughly 90%, and Norwegian men now take about one-third of all parental leave — the highest share in the OECD. The model was adopted across the Nordic countries and Germany and informed EU Directive 2019/1158 on non-transferable paternity leave.

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.

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