61% of children under three cared for by their parents

61% of children under the age of three (under-threes) are cared for by their parents, data for 2104 released by the European Union statistical office shows. 18% were in formal childcare.

Families make use of different arrangements to care for their children under the age of three. Some parents care for their children themselves. Other parents make use of day-care centres (formal childcare), child-minders, grand-parents, other household members, relatives, friends or neighbours (informal childcare) or a combination of formal and informal childcare.

In 2014, the European Union (EU) totalled almost 15.5 million children aged under three. Half (50%) of them were cared for by their parents only, while 28% attended at least partially formal care, meaning that the Barcelona target of 33% of under-threes in formal childcare was still not reached.

There were however major differences between Member States. The data was released to mark the International Day of Families.

Highest share of under-threes cared for only by their parents in Bulgaria, lowest in the Netherlands

Care by the parents only was the main childcare arrangement for under-threes in a majority of EU Member States. There were however big differences between the Member States. The highest proportions were registered in Bulgaria (73%), Latvia (70%), Hungary and Slovakia (68% each), while the lowest were recorded in the Netherlands (23%), Portugal (27%), Denmark (30%) and Cyprus (32%). At EU level, one in every two children aged under 3 was cared for by his/her parents only.

Barcelona target of 33% of formal childcare reached in 10 Member States

In 2002 at the Barcelona summit it was decided that Member States should remove disincentives to female labour force participation and strive to provide childcare to at least 33% of under-threes. In 2014 this target of 33% of formal childcare, whether exclusively or partially, was reached in 10 Member States: Denmark (70%), Sweden (56%), Belgium and Luxembourg (both 49%), the Netherlands and Portugal (both 45%), France (40%), Slovenia and Spain (both 37%) and Finland (34%). Overall in the EU, fewer than a third (28%) of under-threes attended formal childcare.

Highest rise in the number of under-threes in Ireland, largest fall in Romania and Portugal

Between 2000 and 2014, the number of children aged under three living in the EU remained almost stable, though masking discrepancies across Member States. A majority recorded more under-threes in 2014 than in 2000, with the highest increase in Ireland (+34.5%), ahead of Sweden (+27.6%), Spain (+21.6%), Slovenia (+21.4%) and the Czech Republic (+20.7%).

In contrast, the most remarkable falls were recorded in Romania (-21.5%) and Portugal (-20.3%), followed by Lithuania (-17.4%), Germany (-14.1%), Denmark (-13.0%) and the Netherlands (-11.8%). 

It should however be noted that the national trends observed during this time-period were not linear, except in Sweden (where the number of under-threes constantly went up), and in Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Romania (where a constant fall was observed).