Maternity Leave: the Longer the Better?

I recently came across an interesting factoid : apparently, the former Soviet Union countries have the longest total maternity and child care leave in the world.

During my travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia, I discovered that in both Azerbaijan and Georgia, the duration of paid maternity leave is 126 days; in Russia, it totals 140 days, 70 days being before birth and 70 after. In all three countries, women can take an additional partially paid leave and keep their employment: 477 days in Georgia, and up to three years in Azerbaijan and Russia.

On the other extreme, the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act provides for 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave, and it only covers those who work for larger companies. The Act does not provide for paid maternity leave, but this may be legislated for at the state level. California, for example, allows leave for both parents with partial pay.

What are the issues behind maternity leave regulations?

The logic of "the longer the better" does not always work. In Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia the financial burden is fully on the state social security system. Facing budget constraints, Russia, which was supposed to calculate maternity benefits on the basis of the average salary actually received by the worker, introduced the national "maximum" amount of maternity benefits, a provision however annulled by the Constitutional Court in 2007.

An even more challenging dynamic for a country is demographic in nature. Certainly, population growth levels is a critical national socio-economic issue. Birth rates are low in former Soviet countries: 1.4 children per woman in Georgia and Russia, and slightly more, 2.46 children per woman, in Azerbaijan. However, according to experts, 2.1 children per woman is the minimum to ensure sustainability of population. Perhaps this explains extended maternity leave in these countries.

Is the Icelandic solution of parental leave an apt solution?