Japan: paternity leave rate 2024| ��ƽ��

Percentage of men taking parental leave in Japan from 2015 to 2024

Characteristic	Share of men
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Sources

Release date

July 2025

More information

Region

Japan

Survey time period

2015 to 2024

Special properties

postal and online questionnaire; among business establishments with five or more regular workers

Supplementary notes

Parental leave acquisition rate = among those giving birth, the share of employees who started (or applied for) parental leave in the past year prior to the beginning of the survey on October 1 in the respective year / number of employees who had a child within the past year prior to the survey. (In the case of men, the share of those whose spouse gave birth.)

Figures for 2024 show the share of men whose spouse has given birth between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023 and who have started (or applied for) parental leave until October 1, 2024. Figures include those who took Postpartum Papa Childcare Leave (up to four weeks within eight weeks after childbirth) which was introduced in October 2022.

Citation formats

In 2024, around **** percent of men in Japan took paternity leave. The share of fathers taking childcare leave jumped significantly, nearly doubling from the previous year.

Parental leave in Japan

Japan has a comparably generous parental leave system, which entitles mothers and fathers to up to one year of paid leave. However, while almost ** percent of mothers made use of their right, the share of fathers taking paternity leave remained smaller. A sudden increase occurred in 2020, likely driven by changing work styles during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Yet, rigid business culture and traditional gender norms that ascribe the responsibility for childcare and housework to women stood in the way of the government’s aim to increase the fathers’ parental leave take-up to ** percent by 2025. In 2023, however, the paternity leave acquisition rate increased significantly.

Amendments to the childcare leave system

Gender norms and a work culture that discourages men from taking childcare leave, in addition to a lack of childcare facilities and support for families, often leaves the burden of childcare on women. As a result, many women in Japan drop out of the workforce after childbirth. To address Japan’s pressing problem with declining birth rates, an amendment of the childcare leave system took effect in 2022, aimed at facilitating parental leave for mothers and fathers. The amendment made the existing system more flexible and introduced an additional paternity leave system for fathers directly after childbirth. In addition, it required companies to inform employees of their rights and report on the use of parental leave.