Good practice

Spain's Equal Non-Transferable Paternity Leave Reform (2017–2021)

Spain extended fully paid paternity leave from 2 to 16 weeks — equal and non-transferable — in phases from 2017 to 2021; father uptake rose ~20 percentage points; 75% now take leave simultaneously at birth, making Spain the EU model for gender-equal parental leave.

2 → 16 weeks

Fully paid paternity leave (2017–2021)

~20 percentage points

Increase in father uptake

75%

Fathers taking leave simultaneously at birth

Spain's Equal Non-Transferable Paternity Leave Reform (2017–2021)

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Ministerio de Igualdad / Gobierno de España
Period: 2017-2021
Keywords: paternity leave, parental leave, care policy, work-life balance, gender equality

Context

Spain phased in fully paid, equal and non-transferable paternity leave between 2017 and 2021.

Results

Leave rose from 2 to 16 weeks; father uptake increased by roughly 20 percentage points and 75% of fathers now take leave simultaneously at the child's birth.

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
Ministerio de Igualdad / Gobierno de España — accessed 2026-06-21
Real Decreto-ley 6/2019 – BOE oficial — accessed 2026-06-21
LSE Business Review – Spain a model of success (2025) — accessed 2026-06-21
N-IUSSP – Spain pioneer in gender-equal parental leave — 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

Spain's non-transferable, fully-paid design is cited as the European benchmark by BSE and LSE researchers, informing EU Work-Life Balance Directive discussions and comparable national reforms.

Impact on gender equality1/1

Father uptake increased by approximately 20 percentage points following the non-transferable extension; 75% of couples now take leave simultaneously after birth.

Effectiveness1/1

The legal objective — equal 16-week non-transferable fully-paid paternity leave — was fully implemented by 1 January 2021 as planned under Real Decreto-ley 6/2019.

Efficiency1/1

Financed through Social Security with no direct employer cost; per-beneficiary cost mirrors existing maternity leave provisions within the established contribution model.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

Peer-reviewed evaluation in Population Research and Policy Review (Jurado-Guerrero & Muñoz-Comet, 2021, vol.40:589-615) and independent working papers from LSE CEP and Barcelona School of Economics.

Sustainability1/1

Permanently incorporated into the Workers' Statute and Social Security Act since January 2021; bipartisan political consensus makes reversal highly unlikely.

Achievement / evidence1/1

16-week fully-paid non-transferable paternity leave in force since January 2021; father uptake rose from ~46% to ~66%+; 75% take it simultaneously at birth.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

Non-transferability is a structural gender-equality mechanism that de-normalises the assumption that care falls to mothers, with documented effects across income groups.

Curator validation1/1

Documented in Spain's Official State Gazette (BOE Real Decreto-ley 6/2019), two independent academic working papers (BSE, LSE CEP), a peer-reviewed journal article, and the N-IUSSP demographic platform.

Cite this

Evidoria. Spain's Equal Non-Transferable Paternity Leave Reform (2017–2021). Persistent ID: 356b7fd8-81cf-4966-ac06-9dd97eea9f4b.

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