Parental Leave

SGI (sjukpenninggrundande inkomst) is the annual income Försäkringskassan uses to calculate your parental leave pay. It is based on your expected annual employment income, capped at 10 × prisbasbelopp (592 000 kr for 2026).

Your daily payment at sjukpenningnivå is approximately 80% of SGI divided by 365. With the cap, this gives a maximum of 1 259 kr per day. If your annual income is below the cap, your payment is based on your actual income.

SGI can be affected by changes in your work situation. Switching jobs, reducing hours, or studying can all trigger a reassessment. Check your current SGI with Försäkringskassan before planning your parental leave.

Föräldrapenning has three levels:

Sjukpenningnivå (income-based) applies to 390 of the 480 days. Payment is about 80% of your SGI divided by 365, capped at 1 259 kr per day. This is the highest level and covers most of the days.

Grundnivå (250 kr/day) applies to parents with low or no SGI. If you have no income at all, you receive grundnivå instead of sjukpenningnivå for the first 390 days.

Lägstanivå (180 kr/day) applies to the last 90 days regardless of income. These days pay the same amount to all parents.

Of the 480 total days, 90 are reserved for each parent and cannot be transferred. If you don't use them, they are forfeited.

The purpose of the reservation is to encourage a more equal sharing of parental leave. The remaining 300 days (480 minus 90 × 2) can be split freely between the parents.

In practice, each parent must take at least 90 days for the family to use all 480 days. The minimum allocation (90 days) corresponds to roughly three months of parental leave.

If one parent earns significantly more, it generally makes financial sense for the lower-earning parent to take more days. Föräldrapenning replaces about 80% of income (up to the cap), so the income loss is greater when the higher earner is on leave.

Use the slider above to test different splits. The household summary shows the total income difference. Keep in mind that there are values beyond pure economics: bonding, career impact, and equality all matter.

If both parents earn above the cap (10 × prisbasbelopp), the split has no effect on the Försäkringskassan payment, since both receive the maximum amount.

During parental leave you receive a pensionsgrundande belopp (PGB) that counts toward your allmän pension. For days at sjukpenningnivå, the PGB is based on your SGI, so the public pension impact is relatively small.

Tjänstepension (e.g. ITP1) typically stops during unpaid leave. Some collective agreements continue contributions for the first months, but after that they cease. Check with your employer.

For shorter leave periods (under one year per parent), the total pension impact is normally modest. For longer leave the effect can be more noticeable, especially for tjänstepension.

For self-employed with enskild firma, SGI is based on the historical surplus from the business. This means SGI can be lower than actual income if the business is new or has had low profits.

For eget AB, SGI is based on the salary you draw from the company. Dividends do not count as SGI-qualifying income. If you have optimised for low salary and high dividends through the 3:12 rules, your SGI may be lower than expected.

Plan ahead: increase your salary from the company before applying for föräldrapenning so that SGI reflects a higher income. Försäkringskassan looks at expected future income, so a timely increase can result in higher payments.

The explorer sweeps every possible allocation (parent A taking 90 to 390 days, in steps of 5) and computes household net income at each point. It reuses the same calculation as the results section: Försäkringskassan benefit at sjukpenningnivå and lägstanivå, employer top-up if enabled, and benefit taxation (municipal tax, grundavdrag, public service fee, but no jobbskatteavdrag).

The "optimal" split is the allocation that gives the highest average monthly household net income during the entire leave period. When both parents earn similar amounts below the SGI cap, the curve is nearly flat: every split costs roughly the same, and you can choose freely based on other priorities. When incomes differ significantly, or when one parent earns above the SGI cap, the difference can be several thousand kronor per month.