Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development in each of the past five years (a) what is the number and percentage of eligible fathers who have taken the full two weeks of Government-Paid Paternity Leave (GPPL); and (b) what is the median number of days of GPPL taken by eligible fathers.

Answer

1.   From 2018 to 2020, about 40% of eligible fathers took the full two weeks of GPPL in each year. This amounted to around 13,000 fathers in 2018 and 2019, and over 12,000 fathers in 2020. Data for 2021 and 2022 are not available as parents have up to one year after their Singaporean child’s birth to consume the leave, and employers or self-employed persons have three months after that to submit the claims. The statistics exclude eligible fathers who may have consumed the leave but did not submit any claims.

2.   From 2018 to 2020, the median GPPL taken by eligible fathers increased from 0.8 weeks to 1.2 weeks. It is more meaningful to report in weeks rather than in days as each individual may have a different number of working days in a week.