Lithuania is a fantastic place to raise a child because of its family-friendly policies and parental leaves. As long as you are working with an employment contract in Lithuania, you are covered by SoDra (State Social Insurance Fund Board) and are eligible for available benefits for families, including maternity, paternity, sick leave benefits. Benefits and access to certain services may vary depending on your residency status in Lithuania. Foreigners with temporary resident permits may encounter limitations compared to permanent residents. 

IMPORTANT: SoDra is Lithuania’s agency for social insurance. It handles everything from accessing benefits to managing pensions for those who contribute to Lithuania’s social insurance fund. 

Benefits for parents 

The country offers great parental leave policies, giving families plenty of time to bond and support each other, especially during the crucial newborn period. New parents can take time off to care for their children while still getting financial support. Lithuania has one of the longest paid leaves in Europe, allowing parents to share up to 2 years (18 or 24 months) of paid time off work, with each parent getting 2 non-transferable months of paid leave.  

Maternity benefit 

If you got pregnant and want to go on maternity leave, you need to visit your doctor who can issue a maternity leave certificate after the 30th week of pregnancy. You also need to inform your employer, providing them with the certificate.  

Women are entitled to receive maternity benefit (known as motinystės išmoka) for the period of pregnancy and childbirth leave, and childcare benefit (known as vaiko priežiūros išmoka), if she had maintained a maternity social insurance record for at least 12 months within the 24 months before the leave.   

IMPORTANT: Maternity social insurance record include periods when state social insurance contributions were paid to SoDra or when an individual received benefits due to illness, maternity, paternity, childcare, unemployment, or work-related accidents. 

The amount of your maternity and childcare benefits depends on your salary and the duration of your leave. If you opt for 18 months of childcare allowance, it will be 60% of your previous wage. If you choose to receive the childcare allowance until your child is 24 months old, it will be 45% of your wage for the first 12 months and 30% for the next 12 months. In both cases, during months when childcare leave cannot be transferred, the allowance is paid at 78% of your wage. 

Paternity benefit 

As a new father in Lithuania, you're entitled to paternity leave, during which you'll receive 77.58% of your salary for one month following your child's birth. To qualify for the paternity benefit (known as tėvystės išmoka), you must have a maternity social insurance record in SoDra of at least 6 months within the last 24 months. 

You can return to work anytime and balance it with family commitments. The only difference will be in the payment of childcare allowances. Additional income does not reduce the allowance received, as long as the sum of the allowance and additional income does not exceed 100% of the previous average salary.  You can be on childcare leave until the child turns three. However, childcare allowances will not be paid during the child's third year of care. 

Applications for maternity, paternity, or childcare benefits should be submitted to SoDra.  

One-time lump-sum benefit 

If a pregnant woman doesn't qualify for maternity benefits and is unemployed, she can receive a one-time lump-sum benefit of €353.65, starting 70 days before her due date. To qualify, she must be a Lithuanian citizen, hold a permanent residence permit, be a citizen of an EU or European Free Trade Association country with a residence permit in Lithuania and have lived there for at least 3 months, or have been granted asylum or temporary protection in Lithuania. Alternatively, citizens of Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, or South Korea, or their family members with temporary residence permits, can qualify if they've lived in Lithuania for at least 3 months.

To apply for this benefit, contact your local municipality or submit your application through www.spis.lt   

Father’s and mother’s days off 

In Lithuania, if you're a parent raising two or more children under 12, or one disabled child under 18, you can get an extra paid day off each month. If you're raising three or more children, you get two extra days. If you have one child under 12, you can take a paid day off every three months. It's called "father's days off" and "mother's days off," (known as mamadieniai ir tėvadieniai) and both parents get these days with pay based on their average salary.