The European Parenting Leave Policies (EPLP) Dataset

The European Parenting Leave Policies (EPLP) Dataset covers maternity, co-parent, paid parental, and job-protected leave regulations across 21 European countries for 55 years, spanning the period from 1970 to 2024. The dataset primarily focuses on policies that shape the length of leave for mothers and their co-parents, and how leave can be shared between them. It provides harmonised data that enables comparisons of policies both across countries and over time, including 33 variables and country-specific reform timelines.This upload includes both the full documentation and the accompanying workbook. The documentation serves as a guide to understanding and working with the EPLP dataset by explaining its scope, data collection guidelines, definitions, and assumptions. It also includes the dataset’s codebook, an overview of country-specific reforms that affected statutory leave duration, and the main reference sources, which consist of legal documents, official government websites, and secondary literature.The workbook contains the dataset itself, additional notes to support accurate interpretation, and the complete list of reference sources. Together, the documentation and workbook provide a comprehensive toolkit for researchers, policymakers, and others interested in exploring parenting leave duration policies in Europe using quantitative approaches.The EPLP Dataset has been developed with great care. However, as with any large-scale data collection effort, some missing information or inadvertent errors may still be present. Feedback, corrections, or suggestions for improvement are welcome and will help enhance the quality and reliability of potential future updates.Website and contact: https://eplp-dataset.org/Peer-reviewed data description: 10.4054/DemRes.2026.54.31 List of countries: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United KingdomList of variables Category (and prefix) Variable name Label Maternity leave (mat) mat_m_ld_bb Mandatory maternity leave duration before birth mat_m _ld_ab Mandatory maternity leave duration after birth mat_v_ld_bb Voluntary maternity leave duration before birth (maximum duration) mat_v_ld_ab Voluntary maternity leave duration after birth (maximum duration) Co-parent leave (co) co_ld Co-parent leave duration (maximum duration) Job-protected leave after birth (jp) jp_ld_m Job-protected leave duration for birth mothers (maximum duration) jp_ld_cp Job-protected leave duration for co-parents (maximum duration) jp_part_time Job-protected leave is longer if taken part-time jp_later Possibility to take (parts of) the leave at a later point in time Paid parental leave (maximum duration) - Dimension 1 (par1) par1_ld Paid parental leave duration (maximum duration) par1_fr Amount of benefits per month (with maximum duration) par1_rr Replacement rate (with maximum duration) par1_cap Monthly cap (with maximum duration) par1_for_whom Mothers only, co-parents only, or both par1_second_parent Additional time for second parent if the first parent takes the maximum leave duration par1_work Possibility to work / earn money during parts of the leave par1_later Possibility to take (parts of) the leave at a later point in time Paid parental leave (highest monthly flat rate) - Dimension 2 (par2) par2_ld Paid parental leave duration (with highest flat rate) par2_fr Amount of benefits per month (with highest flat rate) par2_for_whom Mothers only, co-parents only, or both par2_second_parent Additional time for second parent if the first parent takes the maximum leave duration par2_work Possibility to work / earn money during parts of the leave par2_later Possibility to take (parts of) the leave at a later point in time Paid parental leave (highest replacement rate) - Dimension 3 (par3) par3_ld Paid parental leave duration (with highest replacement rate) par3_rr Replacement rate (with highest replacement rate) par3_cap Monthly cap (with highest replacement rate) par3_for_whom Mothers only, co-parents only, or both par3_second_parent Additional time for second parent if the first parent takes the maximum leave duration par3_work Possibility to work / earn money during parts of the leave par3_later Possibility to take (parts of) the leave at a later point in time Additional variables par_incentives Incentives for parents to share parental leave user_note User note currency Country currency How to cite: When using the dataset, please also cite Spitzer, S., Lemoine, A., Song, Z., Reiter, C., Greulich, A., Herlitz, A., Bártová, A., Brini, E., Dančíková, Z., Galdauskaitė, D., González, L., Hatzivarnava-Kazassi, E., Honkaniemi, H., Juárez, SP, Kaldager Hart, R., Kristiansen, I. L., Kurowska, A., Pall, K., Pertold-Gebicka, B., Rakar, T., Räsänen, T., Rentzou, K., Romero Balsas, P., Schmidt, E., Thil, L., Tuda, D., Vargha, L., Vignoli, D., Wagner, S. & Wrohlich, K. (2025). The European Parenting Leave Policies (EPLP) dataset: Leave duration entitlements for 21 countries from 1970 to 2024. Demographic Research, 54(31), 987–1008. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2026.54.31Funder: This work was supported by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Data:Research:Austria Grant for the Skill-PAL project; project number: DATA_2023-39_Skill-PAL)欧洲育儿休假政策（EPLP）数据集涵盖1970年至2024年共55年间，21个欧洲国家的产假、共同育儿假、带薪育儿假以及受就业保护的休假相关法规。 本数据集核心聚焦于规范母亲及其共同育儿父母的休假时长，以及双方之间休假共享方式的相关政策。其提供了经过统一标准化处理的数据，支持跨国家与跨时间的政策对比，涵盖33个变量以及各国专属的改革时间线。 本次上传内容包含完整的数据集文档与配套工作簿。文档通过阐释数据集的覆盖范围、数据收集规范、定义与假设前提，为使用者理解和使用EPLP数据集提供指引。此外，文档还包含数据集的编码手册、影响法定休假时长的各国改革概况，以及主要参考来源，后者涵盖法律文件、官方政府网站与二手学术文献。 工作簿则收录了数据集本身、辅助准确解读的补充说明，以及完整的参考来源清单。文档与工作簿共同构成了一套完备的工具包，可供研究者、政策制定者及其他希望通过定量方法探索欧洲育儿休假时长政策的人员使用。 EPLP数据集经过精心构建，但与所有大规模数据收集项目一样，仍可能存在信息缺失或无意的疏漏。我们欢迎各类反馈、修正建议与改进意见，这将有助于提升未来版本更新的质量与可靠性。 官方网站与联系方式：https://eplp-dataset.org/ 同行评审数据说明：10.4054/DemRes.2026.54.31 国家列表：奥地利、比利时、捷克、丹麦、爱沙尼亚、芬兰、法国、德国、希腊、匈牙利、爱尔兰、意大利、立陶宛、荷兰、挪威、波兰、斯洛伐克、斯洛文尼亚、西班牙、瑞典、英国 变量列表 类别（及前缀） 变量名 变量标签 产假（mat） mat_m_ld_bb 产前强制产假时长 mat_m_ld_ab 产后强制产假时长 mat_v_ld_bb 产前自愿产假最长时长 mat_v_ld_ab 产后自愿产假最长时长 共同育儿假（co） co_ld 共同育儿假最长时长 产后受就业保护的休假（jp） jp_ld_m 生育母亲的受就业保护休假最长时长 jp_ld_cp 共同育儿父母的受就业保护休假最长时长 jp_part_time 兼职休假可延长休假时长 jp_later 可在后续时间使用部分休假额度 带薪育儿假（最长时长）——维度1（par1） par1_ld 带薪育儿假最长时长 par1_fr 最长时长下的月度福利金额 par1_rr 最长时长下的福利替代率 par1_cap 最长时长下的月度福利上限 par1_for_whom 适用对象：仅母亲、仅共同育儿父母或双方 par1_second_parent 若第一监护人休满最长假期，第二监护人可获得的额外休假时长 par1_work 可在休假期间工作/获得收入 par1_later 可在后续时间使用部分休假额度 带薪育儿假（最高月度定额福利）——维度2（par2） par2_ld 适用最高定额福利的带薪育儿假时长 par2_fr 适用最高定额福利时的月度福利金额 par2_for_whom 适用对象：仅母亲、仅共同育儿父母或双方 par2_second_parent 若第一监护人休满最长假期，第二监护人可获得的额外休假时长 par2_work 可在休假期间工作/获得收入 par2_later 可在后续时间使用部分休假额度 带薪育儿假（最高替代率）——维度3（par3） par3_ld 适用最高替代率的带薪育儿假时长 par3_rr 适用最高替代率时的福利替代率 par3_cap 适用最高替代率时的月度福利上限 par3_for_whom 适用对象：仅母亲、仅共同育儿父母或双方 par3_second_parent 若第一监护人休满最长假期，第二监护人可获得的额外休假时长 par3_work 可在休假期间工作/获得收入 par3_later 可在后续时间使用部分休假额度 附加变量 par_incentives 鼓励父母共享育儿假的激励措施 user_note 用户备注 currency 国家货币 引用方式：使用本数据集时，请同时引用以下文献：Spitzer, S., Lemoine, A., Song, Z., Reiter, C., Greulich, A., Herlitz, A., Bártová, A., Brini, E., Dančíková, Z., Galdauskaitė, D., González, L., Hatzivarnava-Kazassi, E., Honkaniemi, H., Juárez, SP, Kaldager Hart, R., Kristiansen, I. L., Kurowska, A., Pall, K., Pertold-Gebicka, B., Rakar, T., Räsänen, T., Rentzou, K., Romero Balsas, P., Schmidt, E., Thil, L., Tuda, D., Vargha, L., Vignoli, D., Wagner, S. & Wrohlich, K. (2025). 欧洲育儿休假政策（EPLP）数据集：1970-2024年21国休假时长权益. 《人口研究（Demographic Research）》, 54(31), 987–1008. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2026.54.31 资助方：本研究得到奥地利科学院（Data:Research:Austria 技能-PAL项目资助；项目编号：DATA_2023-39_Skill-PAL）的支持。