EU Maternity Leave by Country 2025: Pay, Duration and Rights Compared

European maternity leave is not one system. The EU sets a legal floor through the 1992 Pregnant Workers Directive, which requires a minimum of 14 weeks of maternity leave, at least two of which must be compulsory, with pay equivalent to sick pay. That baseline describes almost nothing about how countries actually operate. What EU member states offer in practice goes far beyond that floor, in some cases dramatically so.

Germany allows parents to take up to three years of job-protected leave. France adds extra weeks for multiple births. Spain introduced 16 weeks of fully paid leave for both parents. The differences between the most and least generous EU systems are not marginal. They can mean six months of full salary versus a few weeks at a reduced rate, plus substantial differences in job protection during leave, pension credit accumulation, and rights for the second parent.

This guide covers how maternity and parental leave works in the six largest EU economies and what families need to know before planning around these entitlements. It also covers self-employed workers separately, because the rules there diverge considerably from what employed people receive.

What the EU minimum actually requires

The 1992 Directive requires 14 weeks minimum, of which at least two weeks must be compulsory. Pay during leave must be no lower than the national sick pay rate. Every EU country meets this minimum, and most significantly exceed it. The 2010 update proposed extending the minimum to 20 weeks at full pay, but this was ultimately not adopted at EU level after significant opposition, leaving individual member states to determine their own standards above the baseline.

The 2019 Work-Life Balance Directive added a requirement for at least ten days of paternity leave and four months of parental leave per parent, two of which are non-transferable between parents. This directive required transposition into national law by August 2022. Some countries were ahead of this timeline; others are still catching up on implementation quality, particularly on pay levels for paternity leave.

Germany: Mutterschutz and Elterngeld

Germany runs two separate systems side by side and understanding how they interact is essential for anyone planning a family there. The first is Mutterschutz, which is the protected period immediately around the birth. Mothers are prohibited from working for six weeks before the expected birth date and eight weeks afterward. These eight weeks extend to twelve weeks for premature births and multiple births. During this entire Mutterschutz period, your employer continues to pay your full salary, with the state health insurer reimbursing the employer for the portion above the statutory daily maternity allowance of €13 per day.

Once Mutterschutz ends, parents enter the Elternzeit system, which is parental leave of up to three years per child. Both parents can take Elternzeit simultaneously or in sequence, and the leave can be split across different periods up until the child turns eight. Taking Elternzeit is a legal right and your employer cannot refuse it.

Elterngeld, the financial allowance paid during parental leave, covers 65 to 67% of your average net income from the 12 months before the birth, up to a maximum of €1,800 per month. The standard payment period is 12 months, but if the second parent takes at least two months of their own leave, the payment period extends to 14 months total. These two months reserved for the second parent are often called Partnermonate.

For high earners the €1,800 cap is a significant reduction from actual income. Someone earning €5,000 net per month receives just 36% of their income during Elterngeld rather than the stated 67%. This is worth factoring into maternity financial planning well before the birth, particularly if one parent carries the household's primary income.

France: duration increases with family size

France ties maternity leave duration to how many children you already have and how many you are expecting. For a first or second child, the total leave is 16 weeks split as six weeks before the birth and ten weeks after. For a third child, the total increases to 26 weeks. For twins you receive 34 weeks, and for triplets or higher multiples the leave extends to 46 weeks.

Pay during French maternity leave comes through Social Security as daily indemnities rather than from your employer. The daily allowance equals your average daily salary over the three months before leave started, subject to a cap tied to the social security earnings ceiling. For 2025, the maximum daily allowance is approximately €100.36, which means annual earners above roughly €43,000 will receive less than their full salary during leave.

French paternity and childcare leave (congé de paternité et d'accueil de l'enfant) was extended in 2021 to 28 days total, including a mandatory four-day period immediately after the birth that employers cannot refuse. The remaining 24 days can be taken within six months. Pay follows the same Social Security daily cap as maternity leave.

Spain: 16 weeks fully paid for both parents

Spain made one of the most significant reforms to parental leave in the EU in recent years. Both the birth parent and the second parent now receive 16 weeks of fully paid leave, creating genuine parity between parents. The first six weeks are compulsory and must be taken immediately after the birth. The remaining ten weeks can be taken at any point within the first year of the child's life, which gives families real flexibility in how they arrange care.

Social Security in Spain pays 100% of the regulatory base salary during this period. For most workers, this means genuinely full pay. The Social Security contribution ceiling affects a small number of high earners, but the effective replacement rate is much higher than in Germany or France for the majority of working parents.

Autónomos, Spain's self-employed workers, were brought into the same 16-week fully paid system through reforms over the past several years. This was a major improvement from the previous position where self-employed parents received lower benefits and had more conditions attached.

Netherlands: 16 weeks at full pay through UWV

Dutch maternity leave totals 16 weeks for the birth parent. The split between pre-birth and post-birth leave is somewhat flexible: you must take between four and six weeks before the expected birth date, with the remainder taken after. If the baby arrives late, you still get ten weeks post-birth regardless of when pre-birth leave started. The total always reaches 16 weeks.

Payment comes through UWV, the Employee Insurance Agency, at 100% of your daily wage up to the maximum daily wage. The 2025 maximum daily wage for UWV purposes is €264.82 per day. For a standard five-day working week this translates to around €5,800 per month gross before the maximum cap applies.

Partner leave in the Netherlands has improved considerably. Partners receive one week of fully paid leave immediately after the birth. Beyond this, they can take an additional five weeks of partially paid leave, at 70% of their salary up to 70% of the maximum daily wage, within the first six months. This extended partner leave was introduced in 2020 and take-up has grown substantially.

Poland: 20 weeks with an extended parental option

Poland provides 20 weeks of fully paid maternity leave for a single birth, which already exceeds the norm in Western Europe. For twins the duration rises to 31 weeks, and for higher multiples it increases further to 37 weeks for triplets. The Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) pays 100% of the average salary during this period.

After the initial maternity leave, parents can take an additional 41 weeks of parental leave (43 for multiple births). The financial terms of this parental extension depend on a choice made before the birth. Parents who decide to take all parental leave continuously from the start receive 81.5% of their salary throughout the combined period. Those who decide after the birth receive 70% during the parental extension phase. The early-commitment bonus is meaningful, and financial planning around this decision pays off.

Italy: five months compulsory, ten months optional

Italian maternity leave (congedo di maternità) lasts five months and is compulsory. The standard split is two months before the birth and three months after, though mothers can choose to take one month before and four after if they prefer. INPS, the national social security institute, pays 80% of the average daily salary during this period.

After compulsory maternity leave, both parents can access optional parental leave (congedo parentale) until the child turns twelve. Each parent can take up to six months individually, with a combined maximum of ten months (eleven if the father takes at least three months). Pay during optional parental leave is 30% of salary for most of the period, with recent reforms increasing this to 80% for the first month and 60% for the second month under certain conditions.

Self-employed maternity rights across the EU

Self-employed workers and freelancers face a patchwork of rules that varies significantly from country to country, and often from the employed system in the same country. This is where many people discover uncomfortable gaps in their planning.

In Germany, self-employed mothers are entitled to Elterngeld on the same basis as employed mothers, calculated on their net income from the 12 months before the birth. The major difference is Mutterschutz: self-employed women do not receive the full-salary protected period unless they have opted into the statutory health insurer's sickness benefit scheme (Krankengeld). Many self-employed workers on private health insurance have no sickness benefit entitlement, which means they receive no income replacement during the Mutterschutz period itself.

Spain extended its 16-week fully paid leave to autónomos, calculated on their Social Security contribution base. The condition is being current on contributions, which is worth verifying well before the expected birth date.

In the Netherlands, freelancers who work as ZZP without an employment contract need to check their situation carefully. Employed workers receive UWV maternity pay automatically. ZZP workers who have not taken out voluntary Ziektewet insurance through a private insurer typically receive no UWV payment. Many freelancers in the Netherlands discover this gap only when they become pregnant, at which point arranging insurance is often no longer possible. Sorting out voluntary ZW cover early in a freelance career is strongly advisable.

France pays maternity indemnities to self-employed workers registered under the micro-entrepreneur regime or as independent professionals, provided they have paid their social contributions for the qualifying period. The calculation differs from the employed rate but the basic entitlement exists.

Paternity and second parent leave: the EU picture

The gap between maternity and paternity leave across EU countries has narrowed meaningfully over the past decade but remains wide in several member states. Spain now offers full parity. Germany's Partnermonate system creates an incentive for second parents to take leave without mandating it. The Netherlands has expanded partner leave to six weeks in total. France brought paternity leave to 28 days in 2021.

At the other end of the spectrum, several Central and Eastern European countries provide minimal paid paternity leave despite meeting the EU's 10-day minimum directive requirement. Where paternity leave pay is set at a flat rate or a low percentage of salary, take-up remains low regardless of the legal entitlement. The quality of leave, not just its existence, drives how parents actually use it.

Pension contributions during maternity leave

One aspect that is easy to overlook in the immediate focus on pay replacement rates is how maternity leave affects long-term pension accumulation. In Germany, Elternzeit counts as a contribution period for public pension purposes. Three years of child-raising credits are added to your pension record for children born or adopted since 1992. In France, maternity leave periods count fully toward pension rights and the required contribution quarters. In Spain, Social Security contributions continue to be credited during the paid maternity period.

For self-employed workers in countries where pension provision is largely voluntary or contribution-based, a break from earning during maternity leave without making voluntary pension contributions can create a gap that compounds over years. Anyone relying on defined contribution pension arrangements should model the impact of a maternity break on their projected pension pot and consider whether to make voluntary contributions during leave to maintain their target trajectory.

Notification requirements and practical planning

Each country has specific notification requirements that affect your rights. In Germany you must give your employer eight weeks' written notice before starting Elternzeit. Missing this deadline does not eliminate the right but it delays when leave can start. In France you must inform your employer at least one month before maternity leave begins and within two months of the birth for paternity leave. Spain requires notification at least ten days before paternity leave starts for the flexible portion.

If you are working in an EU country as an expat or EU mobile worker, verifying your rights under the specific national system is worth doing early in pregnancy rather than close to the birth. Entitlements sometimes depend on prior contribution periods, residency duration, or employment contract type in ways that are not obvious from a general country overview. A local HR contact or an employment lawyer familiar with expat cases can clarify situations where the rules interact in non-standard ways.