Gender equality – Data, indicatorsExtrafamilial childcare

Extrafamilial childcare can significantly ease parents' burden and is therefore an important factor in balancing work and family. Some 38% of couple households and approximately 54% of lone parents with children under 15 avail themselves of childcare. When the youngest child is under 7, the corresponding shares are 52% and 70%, respectively. Approximately one fifth of couple households with children use extrafamilial childcare up to one day per week and just under one sixth rely on it more than one day per week. The share of households that use extrafamilial childcare more than one day per week is markedly higher among lone parents than among couple households with children. due to their higher level of economic activity. The most frequent providers of childcare are relatives, such as grandparents, followed by day nurseries and extra-school care services and, in third place, childminders or day families.
The use of extrafamilial childcare services has grown markedly in recent years: whereas in 2001, 3 out of 10 households with a youngest child under 15 used such services, in 2009 the corresponding figure was 4 out of 10. This increase is particularly marked in the case of institutional services such as day nurseries, full-time schools, supervised lunch programmes or after-school care services.

Latest update: 4.3.2010