Bulgaria best place to have babies?
Categories: Pregnancy & Birth, Money & Work
If you're thinking of moving to another country and trying to get pregnant, you might consider Bulgaria. According to the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Bulgaria is the best place to have a baby.Maternity leave in Bulgaria is 315 days and the mother receives 90% of her salary. The mother also has the possibility to extend her leave until the child reaches 12 months old. Also, social security is available if the mom decides to stay at home until the child reaches the age of two.
As someone who lives in the US, where our maternity leave is laughable at best, kudos to Bulgaria for helping women out.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
K 9-08-2006 @ 8:25AM
oh my goodness!! that is the most wonderful thing i have ever heard!! being someone who has 4 kids, that would have been marvelous!! here, (the u.s.), you get six weeks to bond with this new person, then, BACK TO WORK!!! some great idea that was...
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Marcia 9-08-2006 @ 8:45AM
I get 4 weeks. I wish we had a program in place like other countries, I think 3 months should be the absolute minimum for ANY company. 1 month, I'll barely be used to sleep and feeding schedules and have to return to work.
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Wallaby 9-08-2006 @ 10:56AM
I feel really lucky to have settled in Scotland for this reason. Statutory maternity leave is 6 months (almost full pay) and then mothers can take a further 6 months (up to a year) on reduced pay.
And "career breaks" are very common here. Many mums I know wait until their kids are older until they go back to work (aside from helping with my husbands business and a few small side projects I can do from home I am doing this). It is very normal here. None of my friends or family in the US are staying home with their babies, they all are back at work and seem incredulous I am not. Here I am not the odd one out staying home with the kids I know many women who chose not to go back right after their year of maternity leave. Amoungst my US friends I seem to be the strange one.
I don't feel I am defined by my job here like I might be in the US. Here people are very accepting of a mother wanting to stay home with her baby and that does not make me less of a person in anyway.
Anyway, this long maternity leave is great for breastfeeding, bonding, and I personally feel just the general well-being of the family.
(28-32 days of vactaion a year is standard here too.)
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Kara 9-08-2006 @ 3:27PM
What many people fail to consider is that often there is a great deal of discrimination in the hiring and promoting of women in these countries. Employers don't want to hire or promote someone who likely won't be there when needed. I have a friend who was an attorney in Brazil (where they have a generous maternity leave policy) and she said the work environment is much more friendly in the U.S.
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