Cross-country comparisons 2026

Sources Used

The main sources used for the comparative tables in this review are the country notes prepared by the members of the International Network on Leave Policies and Research, following a common format. Country notes are reviewed and revised each year by authors and editors.

For 2026, all country notes have been edited by at least one of the six members of the review’s editorial team: Ivana Dobrotić, Ásdís Aðalbjörg Arnalds, Gayle Kaufman, Alison Koslowski, Peter Moss, and Marie Valentova. Lead editorship rotates, and for 2026 Ivana Dobrotić was lead editor.

The expertise and work of the country note authors is gratefully acknowledged.

In addition, the ‘Relationship between Leave and ECEC Entitlements’ table and pages draw upon two comparative sources of demographic, economic and social data: the OECD Family Database and TransMonee. Full details are given at the end of the table on each page.

General note: in the comparative tables which follow, a month is calculated to be 4.3 weeks; while 4 weeks is 0.9 months. For purposes of comparison, national currencies are also shown in euro in the country notes. Currency conversion (with the exception of Chile and Denmark) was carried on for a single day (20 July 2026) using as possible this linked currency converter.

The 22nd International Review also includes an open-source accompanying file (Excel) to the comparative tables 2023-2026 (PDF), enabling comparisons to be made between participating countries and making it easier to reuse the data. Please note that while the comparative tables in the 2026 International Review are cross-checked by country note authors, the accompanying Excel file is not. 

Unfortunately, the Annual Review and all related documents are not yet accessible to everyone including people with disabilities.

When using this data cite them as: 

Dobrotić, I., Blum, S., Kaufman, G., Koslowski, A., Moss, P., and Valentova, M. (2025) 22st International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research 2026: comparative tables 2023-2026. DOI: osf.io/qut8e/overview. 
Please also refer to the technical appendix.