Japan’s parental leave take-up rate for men has passed 50% for the first time.
In its fiscal 2025 survey, released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) on July 31, 2026, the take-up rate for men reached 50.9% — up 10.4 points from 40.5% the year before, and the highest on record.
On the same day, a separate survey of younger adults showed a gap: among parenting-age respondents, 38.4% want to split housework and childcare “50:50,” while only 20.8% actually do.
Fathers taking parental leave is clearly becoming normal. But that is not the same thing as housework and childcare being shared fairly at home.
This article looks at the MHLW’s “FY2025 Survey Results on Parental Leave Take-Up Rates” and its “Survey on Young People’s Attitudes Toward Balancing Work and Childcare (preliminary report)” side by side, to unpack what the 50.9% figure really means — and where “co-parenting” (tomo-sodate) stands today.
Table of Contents
Men’s parental leave take-up hits 50.9% — what has changed?
In short: in fiscal 2025, the male parental leave take-up rate reached 50.9%, up 10.4 points from 40.5% the previous year. That is the highest figure ever recorded for men.
It also passed the government’s 2025 target of 50%. The next government target is 85% by 2030.
For men, the take-up rate is the share of eligible men whose spouse gave birth during the target year and who, by the time of the survey, had either started parental leave or filed notice to begin it. Since fiscal 2023, it also includes leave taken around the time of birth — the so-called post-birth paternity leave (sango papa ikukyu).
In other words, 50.9% does not mean “half of all men are on parental leave right now.” It is a measure of how far the option of taking leave is actually being used.
Among fixed-term contract workers, the male take-up rate was 40.4%, up 7.2 points from 33.2% in the previous survey. For women on fixed-term contracts it was 74.8%. Rates rose not only among regular employees but among fixed-term workers as well.
Women at 88.3%: how the numbers compare with government targets
The parental leave take-up rate for women was 88.3%, up 1.7 points from 86.6% the previous year.
Women have already passed the government’s 2030 target of 85%, but men are at 50.9% — so a clear gap between the sexes remains.
Take-up rates compared: men vs. women
| Category | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 take-up rate | 50.9% | 88.3% |
| FY2024 take-up rate | 40.5% | 86.6% |
| Year-on-year change | +10.4 points | +1.7 points |
| Leave duration | 2 weeks to under 3 months: 58.3% | 6 months or more: 93.0% |
| Fixed-term contract workers | 40.4% | 74.8% |
| Government target | 50% by 2025 / 85% by 2030 | 85% by 2030 |
Take-up is up — so why can it still look like “just taking leave”?
Now that male parental leave has passed 50%, the take-up rate alone tells us less about what is really happening. The next thing to look at is how long fathers are actually taking off.
Looking at leave duration for men in fiscal 2025, “two weeks to under one month” accounted for 28.0% and “one to under three months” for 30.3% — together 58.3%. About six in ten men take between two weeks and three months.
Among women, by contrast, 93.0% take six months or more, so a large gap in leave length remains between the sexes.
Note that duration figures up to fiscal 2023 were tallied on a cumulative-headcount basis, so they cannot be compared directly with fiscal 2025.
(Source: Key Points of the FY2025 Survey Results on Parental Leave Take-Up Rates (Basic Survey on Employment Equality) | Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
Also, among men who took parental leave, 58.3% used post-birth paternity leave (sango papa ikukyu), slightly down from 60.6% in the previous survey. This 58.3% is a separate figure from the leave-duration one above.
A higher take-up rate is an important step forward in itself. But a household where the father took a few weeks and one where he took several months are both counted the same way in this measure — simply as “someone who took leave.”
Now that male parental leave has passed 50%, the take-up rate has not lost its importance. But I feel that “whether or not leave was taken” is no longer enough, on its own, to measure how co-parenting really works.
Until recently, “a father took parental leave” was itself big news. What I really want to see from here on is what happens next.
How much leave was he actually able to take? What role did he play during it? Is he still handling housework and childcare six months after returning to work? And how did his partner’s working life and career change?
Rather than a number that says male parental leave is now “solved,” 50.9% feels more like a turning point — the moment to move on from take-up rates alone to also looking at leave length and life after leave.
Around 40% want a “50:50” split of housework and childcare — about 20% do
Alongside the male parental leave take-up rate, another survey is worth attention: the “Survey on Young People’s Attitudes Toward Balancing Work and Childcare (preliminary report),” released by the MHLW’s co-parenting initiative (Tomoiku).
The survey was carried out from June 13 to 17, 2026, drawing responses from 15,845 people aged 17 to 39 nationwide — high school and university students among them, as well as working adults.
One of its most telling findings is the gap between how people want to divide housework and childcare and how they actually divide it.
Among 1,207 working parents with a spouse or partner, 38.4% said they want to split housework and childcare 50:50.
In practice, however, only 20.8% split it 50:50.
| Sharing of housework & childcare | Want | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Exactly 50:50 | 38.4% | 20.8% |
| Roughly even (40:60, 50:50, 60:40) | 62.9% | 38.3% |
If we count not only “50:50” but also 40:60, 50:50, and 60:40 as “a roughly even split between partners,” then 62.9% want that and 38.3% actually have it.
In short, many younger people want to move away from a setup where one partner carries most of the load — but everyday home life has not yet caught up.
Desired vs. actual split, by gender
Broken down by gender, women were more likely to report that the actual split of housework and childcare falls more heavily on them.
There are differences in preferred working styles, too.
Asked how they would like to work after having a child, men most often chose “work full-time but avoid overtime,” at 41.9%.
Among women, “work shorter hours” was the most common choice at 36.1%, followed by “work full-time but avoid overtime” at 29.6%.
It is worth noting that these answers are about how people would like to work after having a child — not how they currently work.
(Source: Survey on Young People’s Attitudes Toward Balancing Work and Childcare (preliminary report) | MHLW Co-Parenting Project (Tomoiku))
In addition, among students and childless working adults who said they want, or somewhat want, to have children in future, 87.2% said they would like to take parental leave.
That was 83.5% for men and 91.4% for women.
This is not 87.2% of all young people, but among those who hope to have children, wanting to take parental leave is already very much the norm.
Why won’t the gap close? The difference a family-friendly workplace makes
The gap in sharing housework and childcare is not something couples can solve through conversation alone. This survey also points to a strong link with the workplace.
Among working parents who feel their workplace makes it easy to balance a job with raising children, 78.0% said they want, or somewhat want, to keep working where they are.
Among those who find that balance hard, the figure was 33.1% — a gap of 44.9 points.
These numbers do not prove cause and effect, but they do confirm a large difference in the intention to keep working between people who find their workplace supportive of balancing work and childcare and those who do not.
(Source: Survey on Young People’s Attitudes Toward Balancing Work and Childcare (preliminary report) | MHLW Co-Parenting Project (Tomoiku))
What workplaces are being asked to do
When parents were asked what they want from their employer and those around them to make their preferred working style and work–childcare balance possible, these came out on top:
- More manageable workloads: 37.5%
- Greater understanding from bosses and managers: 32.5%
- Fewer long hours and less overtime: 29.6%
- A workplace culture where people feel comfortable using leave and support programs: 27.6%
- Support that makes it easier to share housework and childcare with a spouse or partner: 24.8%
What stands out is that people value not just “the system itself” but an environment where the system can actually be used — workload, overtime, a supportive boss, an atmosphere that makes leave easy to take.
Even where parental leave exists, it becomes hard to change how a household shares the load if taking leave puts a heavy burden on colleagues, if long hours are still assumed after returning, or if worries about appraisals and promotion linger.
Now that male parental leave has passed 50%, it matters more than ever to ask employers not only “is there a system?” but “can people keep working in a sustainable way after taking it?”
Building co-parenting into a routine: what you can start today [checklist]
What families can do goes beyond simply “being more aware.” In this survey, people who were able to work the way they wanted were also more likely to share concrete information and talk things through with their spouse or partner.
That means things like “sharing each other’s work schedules and busy periods” and “regularly discussing how to divide housework and childcare.”
Housework and childcare include not only visible tasks like cooking, cleaning, and drop-offs and pick-ups, but also the “planning” work: remembering schedules, checking messages from the daycare (hoikuen), noticing when household supplies run low, and booking medical appointments.
To start, check how each of you sees the following.
- Are you sharing each other’s work schedules and busy periods?
- When did you last talk about how you divide housework and childcare?
- Have you decided who handles sudden situations, such as a child’s fever?
- Who manages messages and scheduling from the daycare or school?
- Are medical visits, vaccinations, and paperwork with government offices falling too much on one person?
- Beyond housework and childcare, are you each getting time to rest?
- Do you revisit the split you agreed on from time to time?
Rather than deciding “what ratio” first, it helps to make visible who is already handling what at home.
When you talk about dividing housework and childcare, writing out “the split you would like” and “the split you have now” once can make things easier to sort through.
Reaching 50:50 does not have to be the goal in itself. A workable split differs from home to home, depending on working hours, the child’s age, everyone’s health, and each family’s situation.
Sharing where you stand now, and setting things up so you can revise as needed, is the first step toward co-parenting that fits your family.
If you want to check the financial support available during parental leave, this article may help.
For a closer look at childcare leave benefits (ikuji kyugyo kyufukin), see here.
If you are thinking about when to return to work after leave and how you will work, this may also help.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Here we clear up the points people most easily misread about the 50.9% male parental leave figure and this housework-and-childcare survey.
- Q1. What was the male parental leave take-up rate in fiscal 2025?
- A. It was 50.9%. That is up 10.4 points from 40.5% the previous year — a record high.
- Q2. Did Japan meet its 2025 target for male parental leave?
- A. Yes. The government’s target was 50% by 2025, and the fiscal 2025 survey put the male parental leave take-up rate at 50.9%, just above it. The next government target is 85% by 2030.
- Q3. How long do most fathers take parental leave for?
- A. Leave of two weeks to under three months totals 58.3%. That breaks down into 28.0% for “two weeks to under one month” and 30.3% for “one to under three months.”
- Q4. How is the parental leave take-up rate calculated?
- A. For men, the denominator is men whose spouse gave birth during the target year, and the numerator is those who had started parental leave, or filed notice to begin it, by the time of the survey.
For women, the denominator is women who gave birth while employed during the target period. - Q5. How many people want a 50:50 split of housework and childcare, and how many actually have one?
- A. 38.4% want it, and 20.8% actually split it 50:50. If 40:60, 50:50, and 60:40 all count as “a roughly even split,” then 62.9% want that against 38.3% who have it.
- Q6. What about parental leave take-up among fixed-term contract workers?
- A. In fiscal 2025 it was 40.4% for men and 74.8% for women. For men that is up 7.2 points from 33.2% in the previous survey.
(Source: Key Points of the FY2025 Survey Results on Parental Leave Take-Up Rates (Basic Survey on Employment Equality) | Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
(Source: Survey on Young People’s Attitudes Toward Balancing Work and Childcare (preliminary report) | MHLW Co-Parenting Project (Tomoiku))
Male parental leave has reached a major milestone in passing 50%.
At the same time, reading these surveys together shows that changes in the system and changes in home life are still some distance apart.
While 38.4% want to split housework and childcare 50:50, only 20.8% actually do. Even as more young people see co-parenting as necessary, there are limits to how close a family can get to that ideal through its own effort alone if time, workload, and the workplace do not change.
That is exactly why, in looking at male parental leave from here on, we need to go beyond “what is the take-up rate?” to ask how much leave was actually taken, whether fathers stay involved in childcare after returning to work, and how the load at home has changed.
Parental leave is not the goal of co-parenting but one of its entry points.
Rather than bending a family to fit the number 50:50, what matters is that each family can share where it stands now and revise roles as life and work change — and that not only families but workplaces and society can support that. That, perhaps, is what “co-parenting” needs next.
