CSO: Fall in birth rates and rise in employment leads to drop in rate of parental leave taken

The lowest rate of maternity leave was in the accommodation and food services sector

The rate of women taking their maternity benefits in 2022 dropped to 5.5 per 100 employees from 7.2 in 2021. 

The rate of parents taking maternity and paternity leave dropped last year continuing a general downward trend due to decreasing birth rates and a rise in employment, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

Figures from the CSO’s analysis of maternity and paternity benefits between 2019 and 2022 found that last year 39,028 women availed of maternity benefit which is a rate of 5.5 per 100 female employees. Between 2016 and 2020, the rate of mothers taking maternity benefits dropped from 6.9 to 6.1 per 100 before jumping to 7.2 per 100 in 2021.