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Fifty years since Sweden first introduced state-funded parental leave for couples to share – pioneering policy offers some surprising lessons for other countries
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20240130-sweden-where-its-taboo-for-dads-to-skip-parental-leave
I'm so very grateful parental leave is as generous as it is in Sweden, we were able to spend our daughter's two first years at home with her, my wife the first year and me the second.
As someone that likes children, I find it unfortunate that even super generous parental leave policies don't seem to boost birthrates very much. I'm still happy these policies exist of course (and even happier they're used by both parents). I just wish we had a better idea of what factors would actually lead to people having more kids.
Finding ways to make the actual experience of pregnancy suck less would have to have an impact, right? That research leaves a lot to be desired.
I know that's probably not even in the top 3 reasons that most people who aren't having kids aren't having them, but it's an area with massive room for improvement that would benefit the quality of life for billions of people even if it didn't increase fertility rates.