Estonia

Early childcare costs around the world: US ranks worst among developed countries The US is the only country in the developed world with virtually no maternity system in place Mothers in America need to spend at least one eighth of their wages on early childcare Denmark, Romania, Estonia, Bulgaria and Austria have the most balanced maternity systems in the developed world The most generous country for early childcare-related compensation is by far Romania, followed by Estonia, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary The top three countries offering the longest maternity, parental and home care leaves are the Slovak Republic, Finland and Hungary The US is the only country in the developed world that does not offer any paid maternity leave. States with around half of US’ GDP and up to six times lower average salaries are more generous than the US when it comes to offering financial support to mothers. A study conducted by frugal living experts CommonCentsMom.com analyzed the costs of early childcare for women in 40 countries, relative to their incomes, how much time off they are offered and the equivalent of this time in full-rate paid weeks. The research found that the US is the only country in the developed world to offer zero paid maternity leave. There is no maternity leave structure in place in the United States, meaning women are not allowed any time off immediately after birth, unlike in all the other OECD and EU countries studied by CommonCentsMom.com. Switzerland is the second worst for early childcare-related time off, with only 14 weeks of maternity leave paid at a 53.9% rate of a full wage. Israel follows closely behind, where mothers can only take 15 weeks off, however, these are paid at full rate. The best countries for the total time allowed for maternity, parental and home care leave are the Slovak Republic (164 weeks), Finland (161 weeks) and Hungary (160 weeks). However, the rates at which mothers are compensated in …