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Good practice Imported

Sweden's Reserved 'Daddy Months' in Parental Insurance (Pappamånaden 1995–2016)

Sweden · Stockholm · See the Sweden profile · See the Stockholm profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 4% 100/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Sweden's daddy months — 1 non-transferable month for fathers in 1995, 2 in 2002, 3 in 2016 — cut the share of fathers taking no parental leave by 27 pp on introduction. By 2023, 82% of Swedish fathers use parental leave. The model directly inspired Norway, Iceland, Germany and th

−27pp at introduction
Fathers taking no parental leave
82%
Fathers using parental leave (2023)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) / Swedish Government
Period
1995–present
Region (NUTS)
SE11
Keywords
parental leave, work-life balance, fatherhood, care economy, social insurance, gender equality

Context

Sweden reserved non-transferable 'daddy months' in parental insurance — 1 month (1995), 2 (2002), 3 (2016) — to raise fathers' uptake of parental leave.

Results

The reform cut the share of fathers taking no parental leave by 27 percentage points at introduction; by 2023, 82% of Swedish fathers use parental leave. It directly inspired Norway, Iceland and Germany.

Implementation

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

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Data sources

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

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