The number of places for children of full-time working parents has increased by 15 percent compared to the previous year.
The good news comes at a good time in terms of election tactics. In the middle of the election campaign, ÖVP Family Minister Susanne Raab and Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria, presented the Child Care Monitor for the second time on Tuesday. This time for the 2023/2024 kindergarten year.
And this is where a trend reversal is evident in terms of VIF-compliant childcare places. This refers to childcare that is compatible with the parents’ full-time employment (offer of at least 45 hours per week, at least 9.5 hours on four days, open at least 47 weeks per year).
94 percent of three- to five-year-olds and 33 percent of children under three are cared for throughout Austria. Of these, 63 percent of the younger children are in a VIF-compliant facility and 58 percent of the older children (see graphic). This means that the proportion of children in crèches and kindergartens who are cared for full-time has risen significantly: by 15 percent. In absolute numbers, an additional 25,600 children were cared for all day, making a total of 196,000 (for comparison: 332,000 children aged up to five are in some form of childcare).
Large differences between countries
However, if you look at the figures through a regional lens, there are big differences: the proportion of children receiving full-time care has increased to varying degrees. In the group of children up to two years old, the biggest increase since 2018 has been in Burgenland and Lower Austria. In Lower Austria, the proportion of children under three who are in full-time care is just below the Austrian average at 62 percent. Only Vienna (89.1 percent) and Vorarlberg are above the average here. Upper Austria and Styria are at the bottom of the list with 38.1 percent (although the number of children receiving care has actually fallen recently).
Among three- to five-year-olds, Vienna, Burgenland and Vorarlberg are again ahead, although in Vienna – where the level is already high – the numbers are declining. In Burgenland, on the other hand, they shot up: from 24 percent in 2018 to 74.1 percent in 2023. Upper Austria (39.3 percent) and Carinthia are at the bottom of the list.
What you need to bear in mind when looking at the VIF statistics: The children who are cared for in VIF-compliant facilities are counted. Whether they actually stay in kindergarten in the afternoon is not recorded. Nor is it recorded whether demand exceeds supply – or vice versa.
Speaking of demand: The aim, says Raab, is to give parents “real freedom of choice”, although parents’ demand varies greatly depending on the age group. Statistics Director Thomas adds that a VIF childcare offer does not automatically mean that parents work full-time. Surveys in view of the increasing part-time rate show that a large proportion of the women affected would not work full-time even if a VIF place for children was available, says Thomas.
Overall, according to Raab, Austria has exceeded the so-called Barcelona targets for children who attend elementary childcare: for the first time, with 34.9 percent for children under three and 94.2 percent for children between three and five. A footnote is also needed here: in the EU, there are individual targets for each country. The original, general Barcelona value of 33 percent for children under three was reduced to 31.9 percent for Austria, for example, because it was lagging behind. The new EU value is now 45 percent.
In any case, a lot of money is behind this development, which has been invested in childcare that has been underfunded for a long time. The government pledged 4.5 billion euros (adjusted for inflation) by 2030, which should be invested in more staff, smaller groups, uniform quality standards and in the expansion of full-time places.
The fact that the federal government is also directly supporting personnel costs for the first time has helped to attract around 1,000 additional people to work in kindergartens within a year, says Raab. This is partly because starting salaries have been increased. However, it is necessary to continue to improve the framework conditions for staff, for example by reducing bureaucracy, so that the quality is maintained despite the expansion of care. There are no current figures on the care ratio. These will only be provided at the end of September as part of the childcare center statistics. The monitoring report published annually is part of this financial deal. It is intended to help measure the hoped-for success of the investments.
Monitoring Message
Childcare. The monitoring report can be found on the Statistics Austria website at statistik.at/statistiken/bevoelkerung-und-soziales/bildung/kindertagesheime-kinderbetreuung. There is a map on it that can be used to evaluate the childcare situation by district.
