WORLD Policy Analysis Center

Do countries guarantee self-employed workers access to paid paternal leave?

Globally, nearly half of all workers are self-employed, and include among their ranks some of the most vulnerable workers—such as own account street venders. This indicator captures legislative guarantees (and exclusions) to “self-employed,” “own-account,” and “independent workers,” regardless of their sector. This category does not include provisions that narrowly extend to workers in cooperatives nor contributing family workers—groups which are defined as subsets of self-employed workers. Globally, over 80% of own-account workers are engaged in the informal economy; a small number of countries extend guarantees to paid leave to “informal workers” and those countries are included in this category as well.

Paid paternal leave includes both paid leave reserved for fathers of infants or the birth mother’s spouse or partner, and paid shared parental leave—which is leave available to either parent of an infant—that can be taken by men.

National paid maternal leave, but not for self-employed means that state-financed benefits explicitly exclude self-employed workers from coverage, or national benefits are only available through employers. Note that in some countries, self-employed workers may have access to certain cash benefits financed by the state (e.g. old age pensions) but are not guaranteed access to paternal leave benefits.

Guaranteed to self-employed means that national legislation explicitly guarantees self-employed workers the right to register and access at least some paternal leave benefits financed through the state as part of the main state-financed scheme or a separate program. This includes both mandatory and voluntary schemes, and cases where benefits for self-employed workers are less generous than those available to dependent workers.

In China, there is no guarantee to paid paternal leave in national legislation; however, paid paternity leave is guaranteed in all provinces. At this time, we are unable to verify whether all provinces guarantee paid leave coverage to self-employed workers.

Countries

Antigua and Barbuda - No national paid paternal leave

Bahamas - No national paid paternal leave

Bangladesh - No national paid paternal leave

Barbados - No national paid paternal leave

Belize - No national paid paternal leave

Botswana - No national paid paternal leave

Brunei - No national paid paternal leave

Cambodia - No national paid paternal leave

Cameroon - No national paid paternal leave

Central African Republic - No national paid paternal leave

Comoros - No national paid paternal leave

Republic of the Congo - No national paid paternal leave

Costa Rica - No national paid paternal leave

Dominica - No national paid paternal leave

Egypt - No national paid paternal leave

Eritrea - No national paid paternal leave

Ghana - No national paid paternal leave

Grenada - No national paid paternal leave

Guinea - No national paid paternal leave

Guinea-Bissau - No national paid paternal leave

Guyana - No national paid paternal leave

Haiti - No national paid paternal leave

Honduras - No national paid paternal leave

India - No national paid paternal leave

Iran - No national paid paternal leave

Iraq - No national paid paternal leave

Jamaica - No national paid paternal leave

Kazakhstan - No national paid paternal leave

Kiribati - No national paid paternal leave

Democratic People's Republic of Korea - No national paid paternal leave

Kuwait - No national paid paternal leave

Kyrgyzstan - No national paid paternal leave

Laos - No national paid paternal leave

Lebanon - No national paid paternal leave

Lesotho - No national paid paternal leave

Liberia - No national paid paternal leave

Libya - No national paid paternal leave

Liechtenstein - No national paid paternal leave

Madagascar - No national paid paternal leave

Malaysia - No national paid paternal leave

Marshall Islands - No national paid paternal leave

Micronesia, Federated States of - No national paid paternal leave

Namibia - No national paid paternal leave

Nauru - No national paid paternal leave

Niger - No national paid paternal leave

Nigeria - No national paid paternal leave

Oman - No national paid paternal leave

Pakistan - No national paid paternal leave

Palau - No national paid paternal leave

Papua New Guinea - No national paid paternal leave

Qatar - No national paid paternal leave

Sao Tome and Principe - No national paid paternal leave

Senegal - No national paid paternal leave

Sierra Leone - No national paid paternal leave

Solomon Islands - No national paid paternal leave

Somalia - No national paid paternal leave

Sri Lanka - No national paid paternal leave

St. Kitts and Nevis - No national paid paternal leave

St. Lucia - No national paid paternal leave

St. Vincent and the Grenadines - No national paid paternal leave

Sudan - No national paid paternal leave

Eswatini - No national paid paternal leave

Syria - No national paid paternal leave

Tajikistan - No national paid paternal leave

Thailand - No national paid paternal leave

Tonga - No national paid paternal leave

Trinidad and Tobago - No national paid paternal leave

United States of America - No national paid paternal leave

Vanuatu - No national paid paternal leave

Yemen - No national paid paternal leave

Zimbabwe - No national paid paternal leave

Afghanistan - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Algeria - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Angola - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Argentina - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Bahrain - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Benin - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Bhutan - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Bolivia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Bosnia and Herzegovina - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Brazil - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Burkina Faso - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Burundi - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Cabo Verde - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Chad - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Democratic Republic of the Congo - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Cote d'Ivoire - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Djibouti - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Dominican Republic - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

El Salvador - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Equatorial Guinea - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Ethiopia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Fiji - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Gabon - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

The Gambia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Georgia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Greece - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Guatemala - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Indonesia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Japan - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Jordan - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Kenya - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Republic of Korea - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

North Macedonia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Malawi - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Maldives - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Mali - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Malta - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Mauritania - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Mauritius - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Mexico - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Monaco - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Mongolia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Morocco - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Mozambique - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

The Netherlands - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Nicaragua - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Panama - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Paraguay - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Peru - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Rwanda - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Samoa - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Saudi Arabia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

South Africa - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

South Sudan - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Suriname - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Tanzania - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Togo - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Tunisia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Türkiye - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Tuvalu - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Uganda - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

United Arab Emirates - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

United Kingdom - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Vietnam - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Zambia - National paid paternal leave, but not for self-employed

Albania - Guaranteed to self-employed

Andorra - Guaranteed to self-employed

Armenia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Australia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Austria - Guaranteed to self-employed

Azerbaijan - Guaranteed to self-employed

Belarus - Guaranteed to self-employed

Belgium - Guaranteed to self-employed

Bulgaria - Guaranteed to self-employed

Canada - Guaranteed to self-employed

Chile - Guaranteed to self-employed

Colombia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Croatia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Cuba - Guaranteed to self-employed

Cyprus - Guaranteed to self-employed

Czech Republic - Guaranteed to self-employed

Denmark - Guaranteed to self-employed

Ecuador - Guaranteed to self-employed

Estonia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Finland - Guaranteed to self-employed

France - Guaranteed to self-employed

Germany - Guaranteed to self-employed

Greenland - Guaranteed to self-employed

Hungary - Guaranteed to self-employed

Iceland - Guaranteed to self-employed

Ireland - Guaranteed to self-employed

Israel - Guaranteed to self-employed

Italy - Guaranteed to self-employed

Latvia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Lithuania - Guaranteed to self-employed

Luxembourg - Guaranteed to self-employed

Moldova - Guaranteed to self-employed

Montenegro - Guaranteed to self-employed

Myanmar - Guaranteed to self-employed

Nepal - Guaranteed to self-employed

New Zealand - Guaranteed to self-employed

Norway - Guaranteed to self-employed

The Philippines - Guaranteed to self-employed

Poland - Guaranteed to self-employed

Portugal - Guaranteed to self-employed

Romania - Guaranteed to self-employed

Russian Federation - Guaranteed to self-employed

San Marino - Guaranteed to self-employed

Serbia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Seychelles - Guaranteed to self-employed

Singapore - Guaranteed to self-employed

Slovakia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Slovenia - Guaranteed to self-employed

Spain - Guaranteed to self-employed

Sweden - Guaranteed to self-employed

Switzerland - Guaranteed to self-employed

Timor-Leste - Guaranteed to self-employed

Ukraine - Guaranteed to self-employed

Uruguay - Guaranteed to self-employed

Venezuela - Guaranteed to self-employed