A majority of parents of small children would like a childcare place – and this is not always guaranteed. Depending on the region, there are also a lack of opportunities for children of primary school age.
According to a study by the Ministry for Family Affairs, many parents do not fulfill their desire for a daycare place for their child. According to the paper available to the German Press Agency, 49.1 percent of the parents of children under the age of three needed a childcare place in 2022. However, the childcare rate for children under the age of three was only 35.5 percent.
“Virtually every child from the age of 3 to school entry is cared for in a day care center. Nationwide it is 92 percent and for children under three years it is 35.5 percent,” said Family Minister Lisa Paus of the dpa. “But it is also true that there is still a gap in childcare, in the daycare centers, but also in the primary schools.” This is regionally distributed quite differently.
“That’s why the introduction of a legal entitlement to an all-day primary school place is so important. That’s the next priority,” said the Greens politician. In 2021, the federal and state governments decided on a legal right to all-day care in primary schools, which will be gradually introduced from 2026.
The need also depends on the age of the child
The care rate is the proportion of children cared for in day-care facilities (e.g. in day-care centers) or in publicly funded child day care (e.g. a publicly funded childcare place with a childminder) of all children in this age group.
The basis for the data presented in the study is a survey of around 35,000 parents of children up to the age of ten last year. How many parents want a childcare place also depends on the age of the children: the older the child is, the more often parents express a need for childcare.
64.9 percent of the parents of one-year-old children and 80.7 percent of the parents of two-year-old children would have liked a daycare place for their child in 2022. Compared to the previous year, 5.3 percentage points more parents of one-year-olds and 3.5 percentage points more parents of two-year-olds said they needed childcare.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
