As I was carrying my child, I was pondering about the entitled maternity leave that was offered in Malaysia. I know for a fact that Singapore provides 4 months of paid maternity leave for mothers and 2 weeks for the new dad. As for Malaysia, it is 60 consecutive days for the new mums. Some companies may be relatively generous, I am referring to the minimum amount of benefits require by the law of that country. Even if you are not a mom or a dad, these are interesting facts that some countries do more to encourage their birth rates and our next generations while other countries talk the talk but do not walk the walk.
In general, European countries tend to be extremely generous with their parental allowance like Sweden which offers 18 weeks of paid maternity leave on top of 480 days of leave at 80% of their normal pay with another 90 days of paternity leave for the fathers, and Iceland gets the parents of 9 months (?!!) parental leave to be split between the two.
However, not much of the articles surrounding on maternity leave is featured on Asia. So to my curiosity, I did a little research and asking around and the below information is what I have consolidated.
Singapore We get 4 months or 16 weeks of government-paid maternity leave and 2 weeks of paternity leave for the fathers.
Malaysia A mere 60 consecutive days for the new mummies.
Thailand Mothers get 90 days leave and 45 of the 90 days of that is on full pay, the other 45 days is on the Social Welfare Fund.
China The standard is a minimum of 128 days maternity leave (this is 30 days longer than the statutory minimum before the amendment of the once child policy). As for paternity leave, it is subjected from local province to province.
Vietnam Since May 2013, female workers in Vietnam are entitled to six months of maternity leave. If a woman has more than one child, she is entitled to a further 30 days off for each additional child.
Indonesia Maternity leave includes 1.5 months before the birth and 1.5 months after the birth, as certified in writing by an obstetrician or midwife.
Myanmar New mums are entitled to 14 weeks of paid maternity leave while dads may enjoy 15 days of paternity leave after the confinement of their wife.
Cambodia Women enjoy maternity leave of 90 days while her spouse gets only 1 day.
India Recently, they implement a new maternity bill that increases to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave for mothers.
Sri Lanka 4 months of paid maternity leave for female while the husband takes 3 days of paternity.
Philippines 60 days of paid maternity leave benefit for normal delivery or 78 days of paid maternity leave benefit for cesarean delivery.
Pakistan Mothers are entitled to a maximum of 12 weeks of fully paid maternity leave.
Hong Kong 10 weeks for the mothers and 3 days for the fathers.
Taiwan Mothers get only 8 weeks maternity leave while dads get 3 days.
Mongolia Maternity Leave is designated under Mongolian law as a required period of 120 days.
Brunei Mommies are entitled to a period of 105 days or 15 weeks of maternity leave.
Japan Maternity leave for new mothers in Japan covers a period of 6 weeks prior to the expected birth date to 8 weeks after giving birth.
South Korea Working mothers are entitled to 90 days of maternity leave, of which 60 are fully paid. The other 30 days are paid at a percentage of the mother’s monthly income while fathers are given 5 days.
North Korea I am quite pleasantly surprised that their maternity leave is 240 days more than South Korea.
How does your country compare to the ones above? Come and share with us right in the comments below.
Join MiddleMe at Twitter (MiddleMe_net), FaceBook (MiddleMe.net) and WeChat! Best things in life are meant to be shared, start spreading MiddleMe around, after all, sharing is caring.
Comments