In recent years the active role of fathers in raising their children has been on a rise, which is confirmed by data regarding the number of men using paternity leave, as LETA was informed by Latvia’s Ministry of Welfare.
Since 2010 the second Sunday of September is Father’s Day in Latvia. The Gender Equality Index calculated by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in the field Time spent on household chores, economic and social activities,
as well as time spent on childcare is assessed in Latvia with 65.8 points, which is close to the EU average (64.9).
Men in Latvia participate do housekeeping and other domestic activities more often than average in the EU. Data from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia shows that, when asked about the frequency of various domestic activities (cooking and/or household chores), 93% of Latvian women and 75% of Men said they do it at least once every several days a week.
The ministry reports that
at the beginning of 2023 there were 117 800 single parent families with at least one child. 98 500 or 83.6% of them are single mother families are 19 300 or 16.4% are single father families.
Last year the majority of children were born to fathers aged 30 to 34 years – a total of 5 216 children. Fathers aged between 35 and 39 had 3 953 children and fathers aged between 25 and 29 had 3 035.
In 2022 a total of 9 021 men received paternity benefits. Their average age was 33.91 years.
The Ministry of Welfare notes that although the number of fathers who remain at home when their children get sick has increased in the past five years, mothers are more often the ones who take sick leave to stay with their children.
Of all parents who received parent benefits in July 2023 (17 874 recipients), 82.6% were women and 17.4% were men (84% and 16% respectively in 2022). 88% of benefit recipients chose to receive benefits for children of 1.5 years of age.
Of the parent benefit recipients in July 2023, 15% were working parent benefit recipients. 74% of them were men and 25.5% were women. In July 2022, 13% of benefit recipients were working parents (77% of them were men and 23% were women).
The ministry reminds that the Labour Law lists the right of fathers to devote more time to their children at various points of their lives. Fathers who have less than three children aged under 14 years are eligible to one more day of additional vacation. Those who have at least three children up to 16 years of age or one disabled child are eligible to three additional vacation days.
Similarly, the introduction of the EU Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers has extended the duration of paternity leave: ten working days instead of ten calendar days, and the period of leave is granted to the father of the child immediately after the birth of the child, but no later than six months after the birth of the child.
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