Parental benefit encouraged people to have children in Estonia, but fathers mainly applied for financial reasons

A generous parental leave reform was introduced in Estonia in 2004. This increased the likelihood of a second or third child being born into the family and also shortened the interval between births, according to Sanan Abdullayev's doctoral thesis, defended at Tallinn University. At the same time, taking shared parental leave did not necessarily mean that the father took time off work and assumed primary responsibility for the children while receiving the benefit.