Newly-released figures from Danmarks Statistik show that in 2015, on average, Danish fathers took far less paternity leave than the four months recommended by the EU.
The statistics showed the same pattern whether the new fathers were employed by the state or in private companies.
The figures revealed that regardless of whether they had the right to paternity allowance or not, fathers took 25 days paternity or parental leave. Even those fathers who had the right to a paternity allowance only used an average of 31 days.
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More time off in the public sector
There was at least one significant difference because on average, fathers in the public sector took more time off than those in the private sector. This amounted to 52 days if both parents were entitled to an allowance and 70 days, if only the father could claim paternity allowance.
In contrast, in the private sector the figures were 25 days if both parents were entitled to an allowance and 32 days if both parents could claim paternity allowance.
The figures also showed that there were 22 percent of fathers who were entitled to paternity allowance but who didn’t take any time off.
