Paternity leave in France has lasted twenty-five calendar days since July 2021, compared with eleven previously. According to DREES, 71% of eligible fathers took it in 2021, and INED finds that 81% now exceed the mandatory one-week period.
These figures conceal significant differences depending on employment status. This article brings together the available public data and what they reveal about families’ daily lives.
What the law currently provides
Paternity and childcare leave is twenty-five calendar days for a single birth, and thirty-two days in the case of multiple births. These days are added to the three days of birth leave paid by the employer.
A first period of four days is mandatory. It immediately follows the three days of birth leave, bringing the uninterrupted period away from work to one week.
The portion that can be split
The remaining twenty-one days are optional. They may be taken all at once or split into several periods, the shortest of which must consist of at least five days. The deadline for using them is six months from the birth.
The case of self-employed workers
For self-employed workers and certain similar categories, the mandatory period increases to seven days, and the optional portion to eighteen days. The total remains twenty-five days, with the same six-month deadline.
How many fathers take this leave?
About seven in ten eligible fathers. In its study no. 1275, published in July 2023, DREES put take-up at 71% in 2021, compared with 68% in 2013.
The same study indicates that 94% of fathers were eligible in 2021. Eligibility depends on affiliation and length-of-service requirements, which not all fathers meet.
The rate rises to 76% among fathers in employment. It falls to 13% among unemployed fathers, for whom the very notion of leave loses its practical meaning.
Why is the gap between employment statuses so significant?
Because take-up depends first and foremost on job stability. DREES measures a forty-point gap between the extremes: 91% among civil servants, and 51% among employees on short-term contracts.
The breakdown published for 2021 is as follows.
- Public service, permanent employment: 91% take-up.
- Private sector, permanent contract : 82 %.
- Short-term or discontinuous contracts : 51 %.
- Self-employed workers: 46%, compared with 32% in 2013.
The clearest increase concerns self-employed workers, among whom take-up rose by fourteen percentage points in eight years. It nevertheless remains well below that of employees in stable employment.
How many days are actually taken?
The majority of fathers who take the leave use it in full. DREES reported that 65% of beneficiaries used all twenty-five days, and that 80% took them in one continuous period.
More recent research from the National Institute of Demographic Studies confirms this finding. In issue 640 of Population & Societies, published in 2026, INED reports that 81% of fathers went beyond the mandatory week for births occurring between July 2021 and December 2023.
Leave splitting is increasing
The option to split leave is being used increasingly. According to INED, the share of fathers who split their leave rose from 23% in the second half of 2021 to 33% in the second half of 2023.
This development changes the nature of leave. It no longer covers only the days following the birth, but also specific moments: returning home from the maternity hospital, the end of maternity leave, or starting childcare.
Leave taken alone with the child
This is the most significant change. The share of fathers taking part of their leave after the mother returned to work rose from 2% before the reform to 8% afterward, still according to INED.
The figure remains low. Nevertheless, it marks the emergence of a practice that was almost nonexistent before: a father solely responsible for an infant's daily care for several days.
Does longer leave change the division of household tasks?
Not mechanically, and that is the main lesson from recent data. DREES study no. 1355, published in November 2025, shows that the gap in parental time between mothers and fathers remains considerable.
Mothers spend around twenty-three hours a week alone with their young child. Fathers spend five hours and forty-seven minutes. And 45% of young children never spend time alone with their father.
Between 2013 and 2021, fathers' presence increased by three hours and fifteen minutes per week. This increase occurred almost entirely when both parents were present, while one-on-one time declined slightly.
What this distinction means
A more present father is not automatically a father who takes sole responsibility. Yet it is this second point that shapes the actual distribution of domestic and mental load.
We explain this mechanism in our article on parental mental load, and its effects on couples in our article about couples' relationships after the arrival of a child.
What still discourages people from taking leave
Surveys identify two main obstacles, and their nature has changed. Reluctance to take leave is declining; professional constraints and loss of income are taking its place.
For a self-employed person, stopping work often means a loss of revenue greater than the daily allowance. For an employee on a short-term contract, taking four weeks off can jeopardize a renewal.
These constraints explain part of the gap between employment statuses, more than any difference in attitudes toward parenthood.
The demographic context
This trend is taking place against a backdrop of a continuing decline in births in France. INSEE data on this point are detailed in our article on the birth rate in France.
DREES also notes that the use of formal childcare for children under three rose from 47% in 2002 to 60% in 2021. The different options are compared in our article on childcare in France.
What these data mean for a family
They do not impose any model. They provide a useful point of comparison when deciding how to distribute the available days.
Three practical questions come up repeatedly in the testimonials: when to take the twenty-one optional days, whether to split them, and whether to save part of them for the other parent’s return to work.
This last option, still a minority choice, corresponds to the period when the child acquires their first motor skills. Our guidance on this phase can be found in our article on the age at which a baby can hold their head up.
The professional transition that follows is discussed in our article on returning to work after leave. Signs of postpartum psychological vulnerability, which also affect the second parent, are described in our article on the baby blues and postpartum depression.
Key takeaways
French paternity leave was extended to twenty-five days in 2021. Take-up is increasing, the duration taken is getting longer, and splitting the leave into separate periods is becoming widespread.
The gap between employment statuses nevertheless remains the main determining factor, and the time spent alone with the child remains very unevenly distributed. Our approach to these issues is set out on our About page.
Sources
- DREES, Studies and Results No. 1275, “The child’s first days: increasingly safeguarded by fathers through paternity leave,” July 2023.
- DREES, Studies and Results No. 1355, parental time with young children, November 2025.
- INED, Population and Societies No. 640, extended and flexible paternity leave, 2026.
- Health Insurance, “Paternity and Childcare Leave” information sheet, ameli.fr, accessed September 7, 2026.
