The European Parenting Leave Policies (EPLP) Dataset provides harmonised data on maternity, co-parent, paid parental, and job-protected leave regulations across 21 European countries from 1970 to 2024. These policies shape how long birth mothers and co-parents can be away from paid work around childbirth, and how leave can be shared between them.
This has been a coordinated effort of 30 researchers and national experts across Europe, led by Sonja Spitzer and Adèle Lemoine at the Vienna Institute of Demography.
By covering 33 variables on leave duration, benefits, flexibility, and incentives for sharing leave between couples, the dataset enables quantitative analyses of policy trends, cross-national differences, and the effects of major reforms – for researchers, policymakers, and others interested in family policy.
Learn more about it here.