The number of men taking parental leave has gone up by 44 percent in two years, since new rules were introduced “earmarking” a number of weeks of the statutory leave to each parent.

The rules mean a smaller proportion of parental leave can be transferred from the baby’s father to the mother.

The number of women on parental leave has meanwhile fallen by 10 percent since February 2022. The figures come from the Danish Agency for Labour Marketing and Recruitment.

At the time the new rules were introduced, critics said they gave families less choice and flexibilities while supporters said they promoted equality and gave mothers better options for continuing their careers.

A law which came into effect on August 2nd 2022 guarantees each parent 11 weeks of so-called “earmarked” leave with their newborn child. For fathers and co-mothers, this is 9 weeks more than the earmarked leave under the previous rules.

The new rules mean each parent gets 11 weeks of non-transferable parental leave after their child is born. One parent cannot transfer any of the ‘earmarked’ leave to the other, meaning if they do not use the full 11 weeks, they eventually lapse.

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The new rules have sped up a trend for more men to take parental leave according to Anne-Louise Lindkvist, head of customer advisory services at pensions provider Sampension.

“We have witnessed a definite boom in paternal leave in Denmark with far more men taking leave. In addition, the fathers who are on leave now also spend significantly more time with their little one,” Lindkvist said.

Men entitled to unemployment benefits (dagpenge) who had a child in the last five months of 2022 took an average of 62 days of maternity leave, Statistics Denmark data shows according to Sampension.

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That is an increase of 25 days compared to the corresponding group for children born in 2021.

“More parental leave for men is good news for financial equality, for example in relation to ​​pensions,” Lindkvist said.

“Women’s pensions savings still lag significantly behind men’s and this is related to the fact that, historically, women have taken by far the largest share of parental leave,” she said.