The topic of the article is a comparison of maternity benefits in the V4 countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary). The introductory part is devoted to a description of maternity leave and its anchoring in the social security system. The analysis and description was made from the current legislation of these countries. Subsequently, the tables of maternity benefits in each country are presented, providing interesting results for the period under review. In the third part, the key part of the whole article is presented - the comparison of maternity benefits in the V4 countries. Here, the 2010/2019 expenditure in terms of social security expenditure is graphically presented together with population trends and fertility rates. The paper concludes with an assessment of the data collected and comments on the most important results of the research.