President Lee Jae-myung said at a Cabinet meeting on the 10th, "In Northern Europe, there is a system that imposes disadvantages if Namsung do not take a certain level of parental leave. Please review this for us as well." Northern Europe adopted a method that imposes disadvantages if fathers do not take parental leave, raising the usage rate from 3% to 90%. In contrast, in Korea, the approach is to provide benefits if both parents take parental leave, but the share of newborns' fathers who took parental leave within one year remains around 16%. There are calls that a review of the system is needed to raise fathers' parental leave usage rate.
◇ In Norway, parental leave not taken by fathers cannot be used by mothers, nor can it be compensated
According to ChosunBiz reporting on the 15th, Northern European countries operate an "daddy quota." Of the total parental leave allotment granted to a couple per child, a portion is assigned to the father. If the father does not use his portion, the total amount of parental leave is reduced accordingly. The mother cannot use it in his place, nor can the family receive monetary compensation. In effect, it becomes a disadvantage.
Norway introduced the daddy quota in 1993, the first in the world. The father's quota, which was four weeks at the time of adoption, has increased to 15 weeks out of a total of 49 weeks of parental leave. Wages are also compensated at 100% during this period. Fathers' parental leave usage rate, which was only 3% in the early 1990s before the system was introduced, now exceeds 90%.
Sweden and Iceland are similar. Sweden designated 90 days out of 480 days of parental leave for fathers, making it nontransferable to mothers. Iceland assigned six months out of a total of 12 months to fathers. It also imposed a restriction allowing each parent to transfer to the other only within six weeks of the period they received.
According to statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2024), in Sweden (46.1%) and Iceland (49.7%), Namsung account for nearly half of parental leave benefit recipients. This means mothers and fathers are using parental leave at similar rates.
◇ In Korea, the smaller the size of corporations, the lower the usage rate of fathers' parental leave
In Korea, if a father takes parental leave, the total amount of parental leave is increased. It is a method of providing benefits to parental leave users.
A system took effect last year that extends each person's parental leave from the existing one year to one year and six months if both parents use at least three months of parental leave. Dual-income couples can take parental leave for up to three years. Also, if both parents take parental leave before the child turns 18 months, the cap on benefits is raised for the initial six months so they can receive more. This is commonly called the "6+6" system.
However, among fathers who became eligible for parental leave when a child was born in 2023, the share who used parental leave within 12 months was 16.1% (Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) statistics). In particular, fathers' parental leave is sluggish at small and medium-sized enterprises. Of fathers who took parental leave in 2024 (60,117), 67.9% (40,810) were employees at large corporations with 300 or more workers. Those employed at mid-sized corporations (50–299 workers) accounted for 15.6%, and those at small corporations (1–49 workers) accounted for 19.9%. The share of newborns' fathers who took parental leave that year was also highest at large corporations at 12.5%. It was 9.2% at mid-sized corporations and 7.2% at small corporations, declining as corporate size decreased.
An executive at a small company, a person surnamed Lim, 60, said, "After the 6+6 system, the number of male employees saying they will take parental leave has indeed increased," but added, "It is also true that this is a burden from the company's standpoint."
Office worker Kim Gun-woo, 38, said, "Most of the male seniors who took parental leave either changed jobs or started businesses," and added, "Even if I want to take leave for my wife's career, it's hard to decide easily because of how the company will view it."
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) plans to review additional measures to raise the usage rate of Namsung parental leave. A ministry official said, "It has not been long since the 6+6 system was implemented, so we need to watch its effects further," but added, "We are also considering ways to expand Namsung parental leave usage."