Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has released the results of its Basic Survey on Gender Equality in Labour Management for fiscal 2025, showing that 50.9% of male employees at private companies took childcare leave — the highest level on record.
According to the survey, the figure rose 10.4 percentage points from the previous year, marking the second consecutive year of double-digit growth. With this result, Japan has met its government-set target of raising the share of men taking childcare leave to 50% in fiscal 2025.
Still, the picture is not uniform across company sizes. Small and medium-sized enterprises are said to face continued difficulty in enabling male workers to take childcare leave, given limited resources and staffing. Officials and experts say more practical support measures are needed to sustain the upward trend and narrow the gap between large and small companies.
Meeting the target is seen as an important step in efforts to promote gender equality in the workplace and to share family caregiving responsibilities between men and women in Japan, at a time when the country faces labour shortages and a declining birthrate.
