Around 40 percent of Czech fathers take paid-paternity leave

Since February 2018, fathers in the Czech Republic have taken a total of 150,000 short-term paid leaves from work following the birth of their child, data of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Czech Statistics Office show.

The seven-day leave, which allows fathers to claim up to 70 percent of their salary, was introduced in order to encourage father’s early involvement in caring for young children. Since then, some 350,000 children have been born in the country.

Under a new EU directive, paid paternity leave in the Czech Republic has to be extended to 10 working days by August 2022.