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FAMILY

How does paternity leave work in Switzerland – and who can claim it?

Paternity leave is approved in Switzerland, but not all fathers can claim the benefit. Here’s what you need to know.

How does paternity leave work in Switzerland - and who can claim it?
Switzerland voted in support of paternity leave. Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

Switzerland’s Autumn referendums were held on September 27th, 2020, with voters deciding five important questions. 

EXPLAINED: How Switzerland voted in Sunday’s referendums 

The voting hinted at a shift in Switzerland’s rather traditional approach to family models and gender roles, with more than 60 percent of ballots cast in favour of offering paternity leave for the first time.

Philippe Gnaegi, director of Pro Famila, said the result showed a shift in gender dynamics in Switzerland. 

“This result shows that society has evolved and that a model where women have to stay at home is no longer appropriate for the times.” 

Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset said the high turnout and strong majority for the vote showcased how important it was to modern Switzerland. 

“Very good news for families,” Berset said. 

The plan is expected to cost the Swiss government CHF230 million per year. 

Adrian Wuthrich, head of the trade union federation Travailsuisse and a supporter of the paternity leave push, hailed Sunday’s result. 

New fathers “finally get more time off than they would for a move,” he told the RTS public broadcaster, stressing though that two weeks should be seen as a minimum.

The battle for parental leave

Switzerland, which did not grant women the right to vote until 1971, still lags behind much of Europe when it comes to parental leave.

Several attempts to grant paternity leave to fathers have failed. 

While some companies and public sector employers have parental leave schemes which allow fathers to take periods of time off, there was no federally mandated minimum leave period. 

The country first introduced 14 weeks paid maternity leave in 2005 and has until now offered no paternity leave, with new fathers legally entitled to take only one day — the same amount of time granted when moving house.

The Swiss parliament gave the green light for the two-weeks paternity leave last September, but (SVP) and other opponents had gathered enough signatures to put the issue to a referendum, arguing that taxpayers should not be asked to cover “holidays” for new fathers.

How does paternity leave look in Switzerland – and who can claim it?

Paternity leave, like maternity leave, offers Swiss parents 80 percent of their salary, up to a ceiling of 196 Swiss francs per day.

The money will be paid under the state-run compensation scheme. 

Fathers can thus receive a maximum of 2,744 Swiss francs ($3,000, 2,550 euros) during their two weeks of leave.

The ‘two weeks’ is actually ten days, but when taken with weekends it works out to a 14-day period. 

The days do not however all need to be taken at once. As reported in Swiss daily 20 Minutes, fathers could elect to take one day off per week for ten weeks. 

The leave must be taken during the first six months of the child’s life. 

Only biological fathers are entitled to claim the leave. 

Fathers will be eligible for the benefit after five months of working in Switzerland, and must have made at least nine months of contributions to the Swiss pension scheme. 

The scheme has applied from January 1st, 2021, meaning it will not be available for fathers of babies born before that date. 

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EUROPEAN UNION

COMPARE: Where in Europe now has the lowest birth rate?

The number of births in Europe have dropped dramatically in recent years, new statistics reveal. But which countries have seen the biggest drop in the birthrate?

COMPARE: Where in Europe now has the lowest birth rate?

Births in Europe have reached their lowest point since the 1960s in 2022, as only 3.88 million babies were born compared to more double some sixty years ago, according to the EU statistical office Eurostat.

In the period 1961–2022, all countries (EU member states as well as EFTA countries Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) saw steady declining birth rates.

The highest level recorded was 6.8 million in 1964. By 2002, births had declined to 4.36 million, followed by a modest increase to 4.68 million in 2008, and a general downward trend after that year (except for 2021, during the pandemic).

Highest birth rates in France

On average, the total birth rate, the average number of children born per the lifetime of each woman, was 1.46 live births in 2022.

Among the European countries covered (see image below), France had the highest, at 1.79, even though the national statistics bureau reported in January that births in France fell in 2023 to their lowest annual number since World War II, with an average birth rate of 1.68 children for each woman.

Romania (1.71) and Bulgaria (1.65) followed. The lowest fertility rates in 2022 were recorded in Malta (1.08), Spain (1.16) and Italy (1.24).

Other countries were somewhat in between, with Sweden reporting a fertility rate of 1.53, Austria 1.55, Germany 1.46, Switzerland 1.39. In comparison, Italy’s fertility rate in 1960 was 2.4, Denmark’s 2.57, and Austria’s 2.69 (this value is not available for all countries).

The UK’s birth rate decreased to 1.49 children per woman in 2022 down from 1.55 in 2021.

Image: Eurostat.

A fertility rate of around 2.1 live births per woman is considered to keep the population size constant in developed countries without migration.

In recent years, the EU population has decreased after decades of growth, mostly due to the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The current European Commission launched in 2021 a debate on Europe’s ageing society, suggesting steps for higher labour market participation, including more equality between women and men and longer working lives.

In countries such as Italy, there have been calls to increase financial support for those with young children, or measures addressing chronic problems which discourage or prevent Italians from starting a family at all.

But in France, President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to revive sluggish birth rate sparked an outcry, with feminists and left-wing politicians accusing him of seeking to control women’s bodies.

Having children later in life

Across Europe, it appears that many women are opting to have their first child at a later age than in the past, meaning that the possibility of other children is reduced.

The average age of women having their first child was in the EU in 2022 was 29.7 years (compared to 28.8 in 2013), ranging from 26.6 in Bulgaria and 27 in Romania, to 31.7 in Italy and 31.6 in Spain.

Eurostat notes that while the fertility rates for women below 30 years have declined since 2001, those for women aged 30 and above have risen. In 2001, the fertility rate for women aged 25-29 years was the highest among all age groups. In 2022, it was for 30–34-year-olds. The fertility rate for women aged 35 years and over is also increasing.

Foreign-born mothers

Eurostat also records that some 22 per cent of children in 2022 were born from foreign-born mothers, with most EU countries becoming increasingly diverse compared to 2013.

The highest proportion was 66 per cent in Luxembourg followed by 41 per cent in Cyprus. In Austria, Belgium and Malta, around one-third of children were born to foreign-born mothers. On the other hand, The lowest proportion was 2 per cent in Slovakia and Bulgaria.

This article was published in cooperation with Europe Street News.

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