Denmark Paternity Leave: 24-Week Split, Eligibility, and Pay

Fathers and co-parents in Denmark are entitled to 24 weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child, with 11 of those weeks earmarked personally to you and forfeited if you do not use them before the child turns one. The maximum weekly benefit for 2026 is DKK 5,085 before tax.¹ Denmark restructured the system in August 2022 to implement the EU Work-Life Balance Directive, which is what created the non-transferable block.²

How Your 24 Weeks Are Split

Your 24 weeks come in four blocks, and it matters which is which because only some can be handed to the other parent.³

2 earmarked weeks at birth, taken right after the birth or, by agreement with your employer, before the child is 10 weeks old.
8 transferable weeks that can go to the other parent.
9 earmarked parental weeks that only you can take, and only before the child’s first birthday.
5 more transferable weeks that can also be moved to the other parent.

The earmarked total is 11 weeks (2 + 9). The transferable total is 13 weeks (8 + 5). The transferable weeks are where families adjust the split; the earmarked weeks are yours alone or gone.²

The Use-It-or-Lose-It Deadlines

Two deadlines control whether your earmarked weeks survive.

The two at-birth weeks have to be taken right after the birth, or by agreement with your employer at some point before the child is 10 weeks old. Miss that window and they are gone.

The nine earmarked parental weeks have to be used before the child’s first birthday. If special circumstances stop you from taking them in the final nine weeks before that first birthday, you can push them into the child’s first three years instead. Outside that narrow exception, unused earmarked weeks are permanently forfeited.²

Who Qualifies for the Benefit

Every parent has the right to take leave from work. Getting paid barselsdagpenge during that leave is a separate question with an employment test.⁴

Employees

You qualify if, when your leave starts, all three of these are true:²

You are employed the day before leave begins or on its first day.
You have worked at least 160 hours in the four full calendar months before leave starts.
At least three of those four months included at least 40 hours each.

Hours from different employers count together toward the 160.

Self-Employed

You need professional activity for at least six of the last 12 months, and one of those months must be the month immediately before leave starts.⁵ Self-employed applications go through NemRefusion, no later than eight weeks after the birth.⁶

Unemployed

If you belong to an unemployment insurance fund and are entitled to unemployment benefits from that fund on the day leave begins, you qualify for barselsdagpenge.²

If You Don’t Meet the Employment Test

You keep the right to unpaid leave from your job. You will not receive barselsdagpenge, but you can transfer your non-earmarked weeks to the other parent as long as they meet the employment condition when they take the leave.²

How Much You Actually Get

The 2026 cap is DKK 5,085 per week before tax.¹ Your benefit is calculated from your average hourly rate during the qualifying period multiplied by your normal weekly hours, up to that ceiling. If that calculation produces a lower figure than the cap, you receive the lower amount. The benefit is taxable.

Many Danish employers pay full salary during leave under collective agreements or individual contracts. When that happens, the employer collects the state benefit as partial reimbursement and you receive your ordinary salary; you do not apply to Udbetaling Danmark yourself. If your contract does not cover salary during leave, Udbetaling Danmark pays you directly, monthly.

How to Apply

Applications are digital. You log in at borger.dk with MitID, which routes you to Udbetaling Danmark.⁷ You will need your CPR number and the child’s birth date. The system pulls your employment data from tax records, so your hours have to match what your employer has reported.

Your employer has to report your absence into the system, whether or not they are paying your salary during leave. If they don’t report, you cannot submit your own application.⁸

The deadlines are firm:

If you are not receiving salary during leave, apply no later than eight weeks after the birth or the first day of your absence.⁶
An employer seeking reimbursement has to report no later than eight weeks after the last day of absence or the last day salary was paid.⁸

A late application does not kill your claim, but benefits only start from the date Udbetaling Danmark receives it. Every late week is a week of benefit permanently lost.⁶

Postponing or Extending Leave

You don’t have to take all 24 weeks back-to-back. Some blocks can be postponed until the child turns nine, but the rules are specific.⁷

The nine earmarked parental weeks cannot be postponed past the first birthday (except in the documented three-year situation above). The transferable weeks and certain other blocks can be pushed back until the child is nine if you meet the postponement conditions.

You can also stretch leave by returning to work part-time with your employer’s agreement. The two at-birth weeks can be spread over a longer window this way if you resume partial work during that period.²

Solo Parents and Co-Mothers

If a child has only one legal parent at birth, that parent can apply for 22 extra weeks on top of the standard 24. This covers a single mother who conceived through fertility treatment with an unknown donor, a single father who had a child through surrogacy abroad, situations where the other parent died before the birth, and single adopters.⁷

Where two legal parents exist but don’t share custody or a residence, or where paternity has not been legally established, the standard 24/24 split may not apply. Contact Udbetaling Danmark directly, because the allocation will depend on your specific family arrangement.

Co-mothers in same-sex families receive the same 24-week entitlement as fathers, with the same 11 earmarked and 13 transferable weeks and the same deadlines.²

1
Beskæftigelsesministeriet. Satser for 2026
2
Nordic cooperation. Parental Benefit in Denmark
3
Nordic cooperation. Parental Leave in Denmark
4
Ministry of Employment. Consolidation Act on Entitlement to Leave and Benefits in the Event of Childbirth
5
International Review of Leave Policies and Research. Denmark Country Note
6
Business in Denmark. Reimbursement of Maternity/Paternity Benefits
7
Life in Denmark. Maternity/Paternity Benefits
8
Business in Denmark. Reimbursement of Maternity/Paternity Benefits