German fathers are staying home with their newborn babies in unexpectedly high numbers in the first year of a generous government subsidy meant to boost the country's low birth rate, officials said.
Fathers accounted for about 10 percent of subsidy beneficiaries in the third quarter of this year, a major shift in the attitude of German men taking time off work for their children, officials said.
They accounted for only 3.5 percent of all requests for benefits before the new programme started on Jan. 1.
"It's becoming much more acceptable for someone just starting out in his career to take some time off to be with his kids," Families Minister Ursula von der Leyen said.
Designed to tackle Germany's shrinking population, the parent subsidy is worth up to 25,200 euros ($36,620).
A parent taking time off work to care for a newborn is paid two-thirds of his or her net monthly salary, up to a maximum of 1,800 euros, tax-free for 12 months. The other parent can take a further two months off to extend the benefit to 14 months.
Officials expected mothers to apply for the full benefit, with fathers only joining in for the final two months. But 20 percent of the fathers who signed up for the benefit planned to take a full year off. About 21 percent planned three to 11 months at home, and 58 percent planned two months.
"I think many more men would stay at home if they had the opportunity," said Martin Dommer, 34, who will stay two months at home with his wife and 10-month-old son starting next week.
"The politicians act as if it's a huge gift, but actually it's not -- it's an improvement, but I think even more would stay at home if they could afford it," said Dommer, from Berlin.
With 386,000 parents signed up through September, the program was so popular that the government had to add 130 million euros to its 1.6 billion euro budget. The government expects to pay parents 4 billion euros next year.
The unexpected surge in fathers seeking benefits could signal a significant change in the way Germans divide the labour of childrearing, said Nicola Huelskamp, consultant for the German Economic Institute in Cologne.
"This arrangement could mean not only women are held accountable," Huelskamp sai
d. Preliminary statistics released this week showed births could rise this year in Germany for the first time in a decade. Births in the first nine months of this year were up about 1 percent over the same period last year.