Maternity Leave | Electronics Weekly

The United States remains one of the few countries in the world that does not guarantee paid maternity leave for employed new mothers at the national level.

OECD data shows mothers  in OECD countries are entitled to an average of just under 19 weeks of paid maternity leave around childbirth.

Estonia offers the equivalent of 82 weeks of fully paid leave for mothers, while Hungary provides 76 weeks.

Leave entitlements have been converted into their full-rate equivalent. For instance, while Czechia offers up to 164 weeks of paid leave, the average benefit replaces just 30.9 percent of previous earnings, resulting in an equivalent of 50.6 weeks at full pay.

However, benefit levels also vary considerably. In most OECD countries, maternity leave payments replace more than half of a mother’s previous earnings. At the lower end of the scale are Ireland and the United Kingdom, where maternity benefits replace less than one-third of average gross earnings.