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OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 1
PF3.3: Informal childcare arrangements
Definitions and methodology
This indicator presents information on the use of informal childcare arrangements through
two main measures:
i. The proportion (%) of children using informal childcare arrangements during a typical
week, by age group. Data are presented for three age groups – 0-to-2-year-olds, 3-to-5-year-
olds, and 6-to-12-year-olds – and for both all children in each age group, and by income level
and the education level of mother:
The proportion (%) of children using informal childcare arrangements during a typical
week, by age group and equivalised disposable income tertile, with ‘equivalised
disposable income’ referring to the disposable (post-tax-and-transfer) income of the
household in which the child lives – equivalised using the square root scale, to
account for the effect of family size on the household’s standard of living. The
income tertiles are calculated based on the distribution by equivalised disposable
income of children aged less than or equal to 12.
Proportion (%) of children using informal childcare arrangements during a typical
week, by age group and mother's education level, with the education level of mother
measured by whether or not the reported mother of the child has attained tertiary
education (highest level of education attained at ISCED 2011 levels 5-8). The
education level of the female household head is used if there is no mother in the
household, and then of the father (or male household head) if there is no mother or
female head in the household.
ii. Average hours of informal childcare per week among those using at least one hour of
informal childcare during a typical week, by age group, with data again presented for three
child age groups – 0-to-2-year-olds, 3-to-5-year-olds, and 6-to-12-year-olds.
Definitions of what does and does not count as ‘informal’ care differ across countries. Most of the
information presented here is based on data provided by Eurostat’s EU-SILC survey, with informal
care defined as care provided by grandparents or other relatives, friends, or neighbours for which the
provider did not receive payment. However, data for other countries (Australia, Korea and the United
States) that use slightly different definitions are presented separately in Table PF3.3.A at the end of
the document (see the notes to Table PF3.3.A and comparability and data issues for more detail).
Lastly, this indicator also presents information on the proportion (%) of children using
neither formal childcare nor informal childcare during a typical week, by age group, that is, the share
of children that are usually cared for only by their parents. For this purpose, formal care is defined as
care in centre-based services (e.g. nurseries or day care centres, pre-primary education and out-of-
school-hours centre-based services), organised family day care, and care services provided by (paid)
professional childminders (see PF3.2), and informal childcare is defined as above. Again, data are
presented for three child age groups – 0-to-2-year-olds, 3-to-5-year-olds, and 6-to-12-year-olds.
Other relevant indicators: PF3.1: Public spending on childcare and early education; PF3.2: Enrolment in day-care and pre-schools; PF3.4: Childcare support; PF4.1: Typology of childcare and early education services; PF4.2: Quality of childcare and early education services; and, PF4.3: Out-of-school-hours care.
OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 2
Key findings
The proportion of children using informal care varies widely across OECD countries (Chart
PF3.3.A). Among 0-to-2-year-olds, for example, rates of informal care vary from as high as around
55-56% in Greece and the Netherlands to below 10% in most of the Nordic countries, while for 3-to-
5-year-olds rates range from 48% in Slovenia to 0% in Denmark and among 6-to-12-year olds from
37% in the United Kingdom to 0.3% in Finland. Across all three age groups, rates of informal care are
– with the partial exception of Iceland – generally lowest in the Nordic countries. This reflects the
comprehensiveness of the formal childcare systems in these countries, and in particular the effects of
the Nordic childcare ‘guarantees’, which provide all children with a legal entitlement to a place in
formal childcare from a very young age, should their parents desire.
The use of informal care tends to be highest among 3-to-5-year-olds (Chart PF3.3.A). In many OECD
countries, informal care rates increase as children move from the 0-to-2-year-old age group to the 3-
to-5-year old age group, reflecting in large part the increase in the likelihood of employment among
mothers with a youngest child aged 3-to-5 (see LMF1.2) and the associated increase in demand for
non-parental care. Informal care rates then often fall as children move into the 6-to-12-year-old age
group, by which point they are attending compulsory school in almost all OECD countries. Still, on
average across OECD countries with available data, just under 20% of 6-to-12-year-olds continue to
use informal care, with rates above 30% in the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and
the United Kingdom. The incompatibility of school hours with working hours as well as lack of out-
of-school-hours care services (PF4.3) is associated with the use of informal care for older children.
Chart PF3.3.A. Use of informal childcare by child's age, 2014
Proportion (%) of children using informal childcare arrangementsa during a typical week by age group
a) 'Informal' childcare here refers to unpaid care, usually provided by a grandparent of the child or by other relatives, friends or neighbours. It excludes any care that is paid for regardless of who is providing the paid-for care. b) Footnote by Turkey: The information in this document with reference to « Cyprus » relates to the southern part of the Island. There is no single authority representing both Turkish and Greek Cypriot people on the Island. Turkey recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Until a lasting and equitable solution is found within the context of United Nations, Turkey shall preserve its position concerning the “Cyprus issue”; c) Footnote by all the European Union Member States of the OECD and the European Commission: The Republic of Cyprus is recognized by all members of the United Nations with the exception of Turkey. The information in this document relates to the area under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. Sources: for all countries, EU SILC
In many OECD countries, children across age groups are more likely to use informal care
when they come from relatively advantaged socio-economic backgrounds. For example, in many
OECD countries the use of informal care increases with household income (Chart PF3.3.B).
Differences across levels of income tend to be particularly large among children aged 0-to-2 – in
Greece, for instance, informal care rates are almost 40 percentage points higher for 0-to-2-year-olds
from high-income backgrounds than they are for 0-to-2-year-olds from low-income families – but are
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
%
0-2 year olds (↘) 3-5 years olds 6-12 year olds
OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 3
Chart PF3.3.B. Use of informal childcare, by child's age and equivalised disposable income
tertile, 2014
Proportion (%) of children using informal childcare arrangementsa during a typical week, by age
group and equivalised disposable income tertileb
Note: In countries marked with an *, differences in usage rates across groups are statistically significant at p<0.05 a) 'Informal' childcare here refers to unpaid care, usually provided by a grandparent of the child or by other relatives, friends or neighbours. It excludes any care that is paid for regardless of who is providing the paid-for care. b) Equivalised disposable income tertiles are calculated using the disposable (post-tax-and-transfer) income of the household in which the child lives – equivalised using the square root scale, to account for the effect of family size on the household’s standard of living – and are based on the equivalised disposable incomes of children aged less than or equal to 12. c) see note b) to Chart PF3.3.A d) see note c) to Chart PF3.3.A Sources: for all countries, EU SILC
0
10
20
30
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50
60
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80
90
100
% Panel A. 0-to-2 year olds
1st tertile (lowest) 2nd tertile 3rd tertile (highest)
0
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100
% Panel B. 3-to-5 year olds
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100
% Panel C. 6-to-12 year olds
OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 4
Chart PF3.3.C. Use of informal childcare, by child's age and mother's education level, 2014
Proportion (%) of children using informal childcare arrangementsa during a typical week, by age
group and mother's education levelb
Note: In countries marked with an *, differences in usage rates across groups are statistically significant at p<0.05 a) 'Informal' childcare here refers to unpaid care, usually provided by a grandparent of the child or by other relatives, friends or neighbours. It excludes any care that is paid for regardless of who is providing the paid-for care. b) Mother's education level based on whether or not the reported mother of the child has attained tertiary education (highest level of education attained at ISCED 2011 levels 5-8). The education level of the female household head is used if there is no mother in the household, and then of the father (or male household head) if there is no mother or female head in the household. c) see note b) to Chart PF3.3.A d) see note c) to Chart PF3.3.A Sources: for all countries, EU SILC
0
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100
% Panel A. 0-to-2 year olds
Not attained tertiary education Attained tertiary education
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100
% Panel B. 3-to-5 year olds
0
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% Panel C. 6-to-12 year olds
OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 5
also visible among their older counterparts aged 3-to-5 and 6-to-12. Similarly, in some OECD
countries children with highly-educated mothers are more likely to use informal care than children
with less educated mothers (Chart PF3.3.C). This is particularly the case among 6-to-12-year-olds –
for this age group, just under half of all OECD countries with available data see significantly higher
informal care rates among children with mothers that have attained tertiary education than among
children with mothers than have not attained tertiary education.
Children who use informal care tend to be in informal care for between 11 and 17 hours per
week, depending on the age group, although this does of course vary from country to country (Chart
PF3.3.D). Among 0-to-2-year-olds, for example, average weekly hours range from as high as just
under 30 in Greece to below 10 in the Czech Republic. For 3-to-5-year-olds average hours range from
23 hours per week in Greece to 7 in the Netherlands, and among 6-to-12-year-olds from about 18 in
Greece to around 5-6 in the Netherlands and Switzerland. In most countries, weekly hours in informal
care tend to be longest for 0-to-2-year-olds. This is particularly the case in Portugal, where average
weekly hours for 0-to-2-year-olds are, at just over 28 hours per week, over 11 hours per week longer
than the average for 3-to-5-year-olds (17) and almost 16 hours per week longer than average hours for
6-to-12-year-olds (13).
Chart PF3.3.D. Average hours of informal childcare by child's age, 2014
Average hours of informal childcare per week among those using at least one hour of informal
childcarea during a typical week, by age group
a) See note a) to Chart PF3.3.A b) See note b) to Chart PF3.3.A c) See note c) to Chart PF3.3.A Sources: for all countries, EU SILC
Chart PF3.3.C shows the proportion of children not using childcare arrangements (formal or
informal) during a typical week. The proportions are highest for very young children (0-to-2-year-
olds) and for older children going to primary school (6-to-12-year-olds). For the youngest, full-time
parental care is the most likely solution, while for older children it is likely that most attend primary
school and use no other form of care arrangement. Rates are very low among 3-to-5-year-olds, in
large part because in many OECD countries a large majority of children in this age group attend pre-
primary education (see PF3.2).
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Hours per week
0-2 year olds 3-5 years olds 6-12 year olds
OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 6
Chart PF3.3.E. Children who do not use formal or informal childcare by child's age,
2014
Proportion (%) of children using neither formal childcare nor informal childcarea during a typical
week, by age group
a) 'Formal' childcare refers to centre-based services (e.g. nurseries or day care centres, pre-primary education and out-of-school-hours centre-based services), organised family day care, and care services provided by (paid) professional childminders. Primary education is not included. 'Informal' childcare refers to unpaid care, usually provided by a grandparent of the child or by other relatives, friends or neighbours. b) See note b) to Chart PF3.3.A c) See note c) to Chart PF3.3.A Sources: for all countries, EU SILC
Comparability and data issues
The figures presented above come from EU-SILC, which gathers information on childcare
according to the following groups: day-care centres (organised by a structure), “professional” child-
minders (a person for whom looking after the child represents a job of work or paid activity), informal
care (unpaid care by grandparents, other relatives, friends and neighbours) and pre-school for children
aged 2-to-6 (or who still have not started compulsory school). Note that under this definition a
grandparent who receives payment for child-minding is classified as a professional child-minder. The
question asked to identify informal providers is: “During a usual week how many hours is <child>
cared for by grandparents, other members of the household (excluding parents/ guardians or partners)
other relatives, friends or neighbours where there is no payment for child-minding?”
Data for other countries (e.g. Australia, Korea and the United States) are available but
differences in the methods used when collecting data make direct comparisons challenging. The main
issues involved include discrepancies in the type of provider (e.g., relative versus non-relative) and
whether the provider can or cannot receive payment (paid or unpaid). For example, some data are
available for Australia from the Childhood Education and Care Survey (June 2014). This source
defines informal care as paid or unpaid care provided by grandparents, other relatives, a non-resident
parent, or other person (friends, neighbours, nannies or babysitters). It is possible to remove from the
data children cared for by non-resident parents to increase comparability with EU-SILC, but the fact
that the survey does not differentiate between paid and unpaid informal care means full and direct
comparisons are difficult. Similarly, for the United States some data are available from the U.S.
Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation. Here, childcare providers are
classified into two broad groups: relatives (mothers, fathers, grandparents, and siblings and other
relatives) and non-relatives, with the latter including both organised care facilities and other any
provider so long as they are not a relative of the child. Again, no distinction is made between paid and
unpaid care regardless of whether the provider is a relative or non-relative. Lastly, for Korea some
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
0-2 year olds (↘) 3-5 years olds 6-12 year olds
OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 7
information is available from the National Childcare Survey 2009. In this source, informal childcare
includes – similar to EU-SILC – care provided by grandparents, other relatives, friends and
neighbours, but again does not differentiate between care that is paid for and care that is unpaid.
Table PF3.3.A presents data on informal childcare use in Australia, Korea and the United
States, alongside but separate from the information from EU-SILC. Data for Australia include
children cared for by grandparents or other relatives (paid or unpaid) only, for the United States
children cared for by grandparents or siblings or other relatives (paid or unpaid) only, and for Korea
children cared for by grandparents, other relatives, friends or neighbours, paid or unpaid.
Generally, based on the definitions above, informal childcare use in these countries is fairly
similar to many European countries (Table PF3.3.A). For example, in Australia just over 30% of 0-to-
2-year-olds use informal care, while in Korea the figure is 28% and in the United States it is just
under 36%. By comparison, the OECD-19 average rate for 0-to-2-year-olds is 31%. Similarly, for 6-
12 year olds, the rate in Australia is 26% and in the United States 27%, while the OECE-19 average is
a little under 24%. Because data for these countries include both paid and unpaid care it is expected
that informal childcare usage rates should, all else equal, be a little higher than those based on EU-
SILC. Nonetheless, the information presented in Table PF3.3.A suggests that informal childcare use
in these countries is not wildly different to informal childcare use in many European countries.
Table PF3.3.A. Use of informal childcare by age group, 2014a
Proportion (%) of children using informal childcare arrangementsb during a typical week and mean
average hours of informal childcare per week among those using at least one hour of informal
childcareb during a typical week, by age group
Proportion (%) using informal childcare Average hours of informal childcare per
week:
0-to-2 3-to-5 6-to-12 0-to-2 3-to-5 6-to-12
Austria 31.54 43.99 29.94 10.17 8.20 8.61
Belgium 19.36 21.79 17.03 18.15 8.77 8.32
Czech Republic 36.88 48.02 32.35 8.73 10.69 9.99
Denmark 0.00 0.00 0.74 - - -
Estonia 24.81 29.92 15.40 10.71 12.07 13.44
Finland 2.22 0.78 0.27 - - -
France 17.36 19.26 12.17 16.33 10.07 10.35
Greece 55.45 39.98 26.09 29.44 22.50 18.00
Hungary 23.63 33.70 25.88 12.63 9.34 9.70
Iceland 20.75 22.71 20.10 10.92 8.24 8.96
Ireland 16.36 14.16 10.62 21.84 14.40 10.74
Italy 36.27 38.79 31.47 19.72 13.83 11.94
Latvia 11.50 14.14 14.54 - - -
Luxembourg 24.47 28.25 15.00 14.01 11.64 9.49
Netherlands 56.11 47.97 31.86 11.56 7.15 4.78
Norway 5.17 3.38 4.56 - - -
Poland 30.62 31.53 25.00 26.32 22.16 14.01
Portugal 35.14 33.67 29.02 28.32 16.89 12.56
Slovak Republic 25.94 35.32 23.64 13.61 12.95 11.03
Slovenia 41.40 48.41 33.47 14.82 9.68 8.17
Spain 15.37 7.43 4.64 26.86 12.92 16.18
Sweden 0.27 0.42 1.70 - - -
Switzerland 36.25 42.92 28.78 11.03 9.70 6.32
United Kingdom 33.84 39.12 36.92 15.67 13.56 15.50
OECD-19 average 30.61 33.00 23.65 16.89 12.36 10.95
OECD Family Database http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm OECD - Social Policy Division - Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Updated: 09-10-2016 8
Bulgaria 15.97 20.25 9.61 - - -
Croatia 25.59 30.36 20.10 25.90 19.50 18.20
Cyprus (c,d) 44.66 48.50 33.08 30.11 17.24 12.95
Lithuania 18.18 21.91 18.67 - - -
Malta 26.95 30.73 15.71 15.26 17.00 8.93
Romania 41.49 58.63 36.02 - - -
EU average 31.09 33.54 23.47 18.51 13.53 11.64
Eurozone average 31.41 32.55 21.94 18.73 13.02 11.03
Australia (e) 30.83 29.28 25.58 .. .. ..
Korea (f) 27.70 23.60 14.80 .. .. ..
United States (g) 35.98 29.14 27.49 .. .. ..
a) Data for Australia refer to 2014, for Korea to 2009, and for the United States to 2011 b) 'Informal' childcare here generally refers to unpaid care provided by a grandparent of the child or by other relatives, friends or neighbours. For most countries it excludes any care that is paid for regardless of whoever is providing the paid-for care. Exact definitions do, however, differ across countries. c) See note b) to Chart PF3.3.A d) See note c) to Chart PF3.3.A e) For Australia, data refer to children cared for by grandparents or other relatives (paid or unpaid) only f) For Korea, data refer to children cared for by grandparents, other relatives, friends or neighbours, paid or unpaid g) For the United States, the age groups are 0-2, 3-4 and 5-11. Data cover children living with their mother only, and refer to children cared for by grandparents or siblings or other relatives (paid or unpaid) only. Sources: For Australia, Australian Childhood Education and Care Survey for European countries, EU SILC for Korea, National Childcare Survey 2009 for the United States, Laughlin, L. (2013). "Who's minding the kids? Child care arrangements: Spring 2011". Current Population Reports, P70-135. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau
Sources and further reading: OECD Babies and Bosses (various issues); Early Childhood and Education in Europe: Tackling Social and Cultural Inequalities (2009); OECD, Education at a Glance 2016; OECD Starting Strong (various issues); OECD (2011) Doing Better for Families. OECD (2012) Closing the Gender Gap.