Family policy: parental leave, child allowance and preschool

Parental insurance replaced maternity benefit in 1974. Compensation was then 90 percent of pay. It has since ranged between 75 and 90 percent, and since 1998 it has been just under 80 percent for 390 of the days, up to a ceiling of ten price base amounts a year. The last 90 days pay 180 kronor a day, and anyone without previous income gets 250 kronor a day.

The share has risen after every reform but has barely moved since 2019. Of all days since 1974, 83 percent have been taken by mothers. Mothers also take fewer days per year than before: in 2025 a mother receiving parental benefit took on average 64 days during the year and a father 33. In 1999 the figures were 117 and 27.

Temporary parental benefit, known as vab, is paid when a parent stays home with a sick child under twelve, up to 120 days per child and year. Fathers have taken between 32 and 40 percent of these days ever since 1974, a much larger share than of parental leave days.

In 2025 a mother caring for a sick child was home on average 8.5 days during the year and a father 6.8. The peak came in 2021, during the pandemic, with 10.6 and 8.8 days.

The child allowance was introduced in 1948 and goes to all children under 16, regardless of the parents' income. It is raised in jumps, and between increases inflation eats it away. The biggest cut came in 1996, when the allowance was lowered to 640 kronor and the large family supplement was abolished. Both were restored in 1998.

The large family supplement was introduced in 1982 and last raised in 2010. It means each child brings more the more children the family has.

Since 2002 preschool has had a fee cap. The fee is a share of household income before tax, 3 percent for the first child, 2 for the second and 1 for the third, and from the fourth child preschool is free. In 2002 the highest fee was 1,140 kronor a month, about 1,750 kronor in today's money. In the first half of 2026 it is 1,847 kronor, which applies to households earning 61,560 kronor a month or more. From July 2026 an income allowance is introduced, and the highest fee drops to 1,547 kronor.

Municipalities differ a lot. In 2025 a child in preschool cost 141,000 kronor a year in Munkfors and 263,000 in Sorsele; the median municipality was at 198,000. In Pajala 64 percent of children aged one to five attended preschool, in Svedala and Malå 96 to 97 percent. Sparsely populated municipalities have small groups and long distances.

The cost per child for each municipality is under Municipal finances.

Fertility is measured as the number of children a woman would have over her life if the year's birth rates held. Keeping the population constant without immigration takes about 2.1. Sweden long ranked high among rich countries and reached 2.13 in 1990, when the speed premium and expanded preschool made it easier to have children close together. After the crisis of the 1990s the rate fell to 1.5, rose again to nearly 2 around 2010 and has fallen every year since. In 2025 it was 1.42.

The decline since 2010 shows up in almost all rich countries, including the Nordic ones with generous family policy. Countries with weak family policy, such as Italy, Japan and South Korea, are still lowest. The research on why is on Population.