Birth allowance

Birth allowance is a social security payment made to working women to compensate for loss of income during the periods before and after birth when they are unable to work. This period covers the maternity leave granted to insured working women. The leave is divided into periods before and after birth. Before birth it is 8 weeks, i.e. 56 days, in a normal pregnancy, and 10 weeks, i.e. 70 days, in a multiple pregnancy. After birth it is calculated as 8 weeks, i.e. 56 days, in both cases. The birth-and-medical-report allowance, also called the maternity incapacity-for-work allowance, is paid for a total of 16 weeks, i.e. 112 days, before and after birth; in a multiple pregnancy, 2 weeks are added to the pre-birth leave and it is paid for a total of 18 weeks, i.e. 126 days. The maternity incapacity-for-work allowance is calculated on the insured working mother’s gross earnings for the last 12 months and is set at two thirds of the daily earnings.

Conditions for payment of the maternity incapacity-for-work allowance:

• The woman must be working as an insured person under 4A (SSK).
• At least 90 days of short-term insurance premiums must have been paid in the last 1 year before birth.
• The woman must obtain a maternity report documenting her incapacity for work before and after birth. The report must be issued by an authorised doctor or health institution.
• The report obtained must be notified to the Social Security Institution (SGK) by the employer. This step is required for approval of the allowance.
• The woman must not work during the period of the report. If she continues to work within the report period, the allowance cannot be received for that period.
• For the allowance to be received, the birth must have been a live birth. However, if the baby dies during birth, payment is still made to the mother for the pre-birth and post-birth report period.

After the employer notifies the report to SGK, and once the report appears in SGK’s system, the status of the application can be followed through e-Devlet. The approved allowance can be collected from PTT branches. If the woman has a bank account registered in the SGK system, payment is made directly to that account.

As an example, if we calculate the birth-and-report allowance for a mother working on the minimum wage in 2025:

The gross minimum wage, valid from 1 January 2025, is 26,005.5 TL. In this case:

• Daily gross earnings: 26,005.5 TL ÷ 30 = 866.85 TL
• Daily allowance (2/3): 866.85 × 2/3 = 577.9 TL
• Total allowance (16 weeks – 112 days): 577.9 TL × 112 days = 64,724.8 TL
• Total allowance in a multiple pregnancy (18 weeks – 126 days): 577.9 TL × 126 days = 72,815.4 TL

In this case, the birth-and-report allowance that a mother working on the minimum wage in 2025 would receive over the total 16-week report period before and after birth would be 64,724.8 TL. If it is a multiple pregnancy and the report period is 18 weeks (126 days), the total payment would be 72,815.4 TL.

In conclusion, a mother working on the minimum wage in 2025 receives, as maternity incapacity-for-work allowance, a total of about 64 thousand TL in a normal pregnancy and about 72 thousand TL in a multiple pregnancy.