What are the Best and Worst Countries for Paid Maternity Leaves?

USA does not avail any paid maternity leave to women

5/5 - (4 votes)

Paid maternity leave is a privilege that is granted to would-be-mothers or new mothers. This gives a woman, the liberty of taking a leave from office for a particular amount of time, immediately before or after child birth, and still get her monthly salary.

Every mother needs to recover emotionally and physically after giving birth to her child and maternity leave enables her to do the same, without stressing about her finances. An infant needs the care of mother the most, and via paid leaves, she can spend plenty time with her child.

Even though paid maternity leave seems beneficial for expecting and new mothers, not every country is generous enough to grant sufficient amount of leaves. While some nations are quite generous and grant more than a year of paid maternity leaves, there are several countries which do not avail even one.

You might get shocked to know that the United States is one of the worst countries when it comes to paid maternity leaves. According to the World Policy Analysis Center’s data, the country does not provide any paid leave to the mothers in need. Apart from it, many other regions like Marshall Islands, Federates States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and Tonga also do not avail any maternity leaves.

14 weeks of paid leaves are availed to mothers in nations like Afghanistan, Argentina, Bhutan, Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mauritius, and Peru. Canada, France, Greece, Iran, Italy, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and India are some other countries which are quite generous as the leaves range from between 26 weeks to 51.9 weeks, suggesting how mothers can take a leave off work from 6 months to a year and they are still paid.
If you think that is enough, then let us tell you, that there are countries which offer 52 weeks or more paid maternity leaves. One year is a good amount of time for mothers to get back to good health and start working with a fresh balance.

The table below provides information on the paid maternity leaves provided by each nation.

Country	Maternity
Micronesia	No paid leave for mothers
Marshall Islands	No paid leave for mothers
Nauru	No paid leave for mothers
Palau	No paid leave for mothers
Papua New Guinea	No paid leave for mothers
Suriname	No paid leave for mothers
Tonga	No paid leave for mothers
United States of America	No paid leave for mothers
Afghanistan	Less than 14 weeks
Angola	Less than 14 weeks
Antigua	Less than 14 weeks
Argentina	Less than 14 weeks
Bahamas	Less than 14 weeks
Bahrain	Less than 14 weeks
Barbados	Less than 14 weeks
Barbuda	Less than 14 weeks
Bhutan	Less than 14 weeks
Bolivia	Less than 14 weeks
Botswana	Less than 14 weeks
Burundi	Less than 14 weeks
Cambodia	Less than 14 weeks
Cape Verde	Less than 14 weeks
Dominica	Less than 14 weeks
Dominican Republic	Less than 14 weeks
Ecuador	Less than 14 weeks
Egypt	Less than 14 weeks
El Salvador	Less than 14 weeks
Equatorial Guinea	Less than 14 weeks
Eritrea	Less than 14 weeks
Ethiopia	Less than 14 weeks
Fiji	Less than 14 weeks
Ghana	Less than 14 weeks
Grenada	Less than 14 weeks
Guatemala	Less than 14 weeks
Guinea-Bissau	Less than 14 weeks
Guyana	Less than 14 weeks
Haiti	Less than 14 weeks
Honduras	Less than 14 weeks
Indonesia	Less than 14 weeks
Iraq	Less than 14 weeks
Jamaica	Less than 14 weeks
Jordan	Less than 14 weeks
Kenya	Less than 14 weeks
Kiribati	Less than 14 weeks
North Korea	Less than 14 weeks
Kuwait	Less than 14 weeks
Lebanon	Less than 14 weeks
Lesotho	Less than 14 weeks
Liberia	Less than 14 weeks
Malawi	Less than 14 weeks
Malaysia	Less than 14 weeks
Maldives	Less than 14 weeks
Mauritius	Less than 14 weeks
Mexico	Less than 14 weeks
Mozambique	Less than 14 weeks
Namibia	Less than 14 weeks
Nepal	Less than 14 weeks
Nicaragua	Less than 14 weeks
Nigeria	Less than 14 weeks
Oman	Less than 14 weeks
Pakistan	Less than 14 weeks
Paraguay	Less than 14 weeks
Peru	Less than 14 weeks
Philippines	Less than 14 weeks
Qatar	Less than 14 weeks
Rwanda	Less than 14 weeks
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Less than 14 weeks
Saint Lucia	Less than 14 weeks
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Less than 14 weeks
Samoa	Less than 14 weeks
Sao Tome and Principe	Less than 14 weeks
Saudi Arabia	Less than 14 weeks
Sierra Leone	Less than 14 weeks
Solomon Islands	Less than 14 weeks
South Sudan	Less than 14 weeks
Sri Lanka	Less than 14 weeks
Sudan	Less than 14 weeks
Swaziland	Less than 14 weeks
Tanzania	Less than 14 weeks
Thailand	Less than 14 weeks
Timor-Leste	Less than 14 weeks
Tunisia	Less than 14 weeks
Tuvalu	Less than 14 weeks
Uganda	Less than 14 weeks
United Arab Emirates	Less than 14 weeks
Vanuatu	Less than 14 weeks
Yemen	Less than 14 weeks
Brunei	Less than 14 weeks
Singapore	Less than 14 weeks
Burma	14 – 25.9 weeks
Laos	14 – 25.9 weeks
Uruguay	14 – 25.9 weeks
Algeria	14 – 25.9 weeks
Andorra	14 – 25.9 weeks
Australia	14 – 25.9 weeks
Bangladesh	14 – 25.9 weeks
Belize	14 – 25.9 weeks
Benin	14 – 25.9 weeks
Brazil	14 – 25.9 weeks
Burkina Faso	14 – 25.9 weeks
Cameroon	14 – 25.9 weeks
Central African Republic	14 – 25.9 weeks
Chad	14 – 25.9 weeks
China	14 – 25.9 weeks
Colombia	14 – 25.9 weeks
Comoros	14 – 25.9 weeks
Congo (Brazzaville)	14 – 25.9 weeks
Congo (Kinshasa)	14 – 25.9 weeks
Costa Rica	14 – 25.9 weeks
Cote D’Ivoire	14 – 25.9 weeks
Cyprus	14 – 25.9 weeks
Djibouti	14 – 25.9 weeks
Gabon	14 – 25.9 weeks
Guinea	14 – 25.9 weeks
Israel	14 – 25.9 weeks
Kazakhstan	14 – 25.9 weeks
Kyrgyzstan	14 – 25.9 weeks
Libya	14 – 25.9 weeks
Liechtenstein	14 – 25.9 weeks
Madagascar	14 – 25.9 weeks
Mali	14 – 25.9 weeks
Malta	14 – 25.9 weeks
Mauritania	14 – 25.9 weeks
Monaco	14 – 25.9 weeks
Morocco	14 – 25.9 weeks
Netherlands	14 – 25.9 weeks
New Zealand	14 – 25.9 weeks
Niger	14 – 25.9 weeks
Panama	14 – 25.9 weeks
Senegal	14 – 25.9 weeks
Seychelles	14 – 25.9 weeks
Somalia	14 – 25.9 weeks
South Africa	14 – 25.9 weeks
Spain	14 – 25.9 weeks
Switzerland	14 – 25.9 weeks
Syria	14 – 25.9 weeks
Togo	14 – 25.9 weeks
Trinidad and Tobago	14 – 25.9 weeks
Turkey	14 – 25.9 weeks
Zambia	14 – 25.9 weeks
Zimbabwe	14 – 25.9 weeks
India	26 – 51.9 weeks
Georgia	26 – 51.9 weeks
Belgium	26 – 51.9 weeks
Chile	26 – 51.9 weeks
France	26 – 51.9 weeks
Gambia, The	26 – 51.9 weeks
Greece	26 – 51.9 weeks
Iceland	26 – 51.9 weeks
Iran	26 – 51.9 weeks
Ireland	26 – 51.9 weeks
Italy	26 – 51.9 weeks
Luxembourg	26 – 51.9 weeks
Macedonia	26 – 51.9 weeks
Norway	26 – 51.9 weeks
Portugal	26 – 51.9 weeks
United Kingdom	26 – 51.9 weeks
Venezuela	26 – 51.9 weeks
Vietnam	26 – 51.9 weeks
Finland	26 – 51.9 weeks
Turkmenistan	52 weeks or more
Canada	52 weeks or more
Albania	52 weeks or more
Armenia	52 weeks or more
Austria	52 weeks or more
Azerbaijan	52 weeks or more
Belarus	52 weeks or more
Bosnia and Herzegovina	52 weeks or more
Bulgaria	52 weeks or more
Croatia	52 weeks or more
Cuba	52 weeks or more
Czech Republic	52 weeks or more
Denmark	52 weeks or more
Estonia	52 weeks or more
Germany	52 weeks or more
Hungary	52 weeks or more
Japan	52 weeks or more
South Korea	52 weeks or more
Latvia	52 weeks or more
Lithuania	52 weeks or more
Moldova	52 weeks or more
Mongolia	52 weeks or more
Montenegro	52 weeks or more
Poland	52 weeks or more
Romania	52 weeks or more
Russia	52 weeks or more
San Marino	52 weeks or more
Serbia	52 weeks or more
Slovakia	52 weeks or more
Slovenia	52 weeks or more
Sweden	52 weeks or more
Tajikistan	52 weeks or more
Ukraine	52 weeks or more
Uzbekistan	52 weeks or more

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