How much do families spend on childcare across Europe?
Education and care of early childhood are essential to the success of school, work and life. The EU says that each child has the right to affordable and high quality early education and early care. The future of a child should not depend on the family history.
However, childcare costs remain a heavy burden for many families in Europe. While some countries offer strong support, from others, parents must spend a large part of their income in crèches.
So, how do childcare costs differ across Europe? What do families pay for care before and after benefits? And what part of household income goes to nurseries or daycares?
What is the coverage of children’s cost and benefits data?
According to the OECD, costs and benefits vary considerably across Europe. The data cover care based on centers, which means childcare provided outside the household in approved establishments. These include nurseries, daycare centers, nurseries, game schools and groups led by parents, offered full -time or part -time.
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Cost for families with two children
OECD figures are based on families with two children aged two and three. The net childcare costs are total gross costs less children’s childcare services, adjusted for tax changes and other advantages. The gross costs of childcare are the costs for parents after public subsidies to suppliers, but before any reduction according to family circumstances. Child care services can come as compensationTax reductions, cost paid or increased other rights.
In 2023, crude children’s childcare fees for two children in the EU vary from € 552 in Germany to € 39,229 in the Netherlands per year. Including the countries of the EFTA and the United Kingdom, Switzerland is at the top of the list at € 64,211.
Crude childcare costs also exceed € 20,000 in Luxembourg (€ 30,254), the United Kingdom (€ 27,071 or £ 23,546) and Ireland (€ 20,533).
The lowest costs are in Germany (€ 552) and several other countries reach € 2,000: Bulgaria (€ 884), Hungary (€ 1.007), Austria (€ 1,638), Chechy (€ 1,843), Croatia (€ 1,911), Lithuania (€ 1,935) and Rania (€ 1.95).
Among the five largest economies in Europe, the United Kingdom has the highest childcare costs, while Germany is the cheapest. Italy (€ 10,032) is also expensive, France is mid -range at € 7,717 and Spain has the second lower from five to 2452 €.
The Nordic countries are close to the median, with Iceland at € 5,014.
Net child care costs depend on whether families have one or two employees
Support for daycare services varies according to the income level and the number of employees. Single parents and families of a single notice generally get more aid than two -income couples.
In some countries, both pay the same thing, generally where childcare costs are lower, often less than € 2,000.
When childcare costs are raised, the difference between mono and two-infection families becomes significant, as in Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Cyprus. Single parents and families of beneficiaries receive many more advantages.
Net childcare costs for families of simple employees go from zero to Greece, Italy and Malta at € 10,200 in Switzerland, followed by the United Kingdom (€ 9,991 or £ 8,690) and Ireland (€ 8,409).
The Netherlands (€ 6,563), Belgium (€ 5,524), Finland (€ 4,539) and Norway (€ 4,177) complete the first seven. No other country exceeds € 4,000. The costs are less than € 2,000 in 18 from the 31 countries, and in 10 of them, they are zero or less than € 1,050.
For households of two-infections, the net childcare costs increase considerably in many countries. Switzerland remains the most expensive at € 27,551, followed by the Netherlands (€ 15,915). Costs also exceed € 10,000 in the United Kingdom (€ 13,662 or £ 11,848), Ireland (€ 13,056) and Belgium (€ 11,186).
In most countries, net child childcare costs for couples with two players are less than € 2,500. In Italy and Malta, they stay at zero, followed by Germany at € 430.
France amounts to € 6,523, while Spain is much lower at € 2,452.
All figures are based on households earning 100% of the average national salary, with one or two employees.
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How many of your salary goes to child care?
The most important indicator in understanding the affordability of nurseries and the comparison of countries consists in examining the percentage of wages at net childcare costs.
The United Kingdom holds the lowest share with 18%, followed by Slovakia (17%) for single parents or families of a single opinion.
In five other countries, it reaches 10%or more: Ireland (14%), Chechy (12%), the Netherlands and Romania (11%each) and Switzerland (10%).
Romania ranks sixth by income share, but only 14th in nominal costs (€ 1,945). This shows that lower average wages increase the burden of households.
In most European countries, this share is 6%and less, including Germany (1%) and France (6%).
For couples to two actors of two children, it varies from zero to Malta, Bulgaria and Italy at 28% in Switzerland. In Cyprus and the Netherlands (26% each) and in the United Kingdom (25%), at least a quarter of household income goes to child care.
In 19 countries, children’s care takes 9%or less from the average salary, especially Spain (8%) and Germany (1%).
The burden, however, in some countries in particular increases for double winners compared to unique employees: from 6% to 26% in Cyprus, 10% to 28% in Switzerland, from 11% to 26% in the Netherlands, from 9% to 19% in Belgium and from 6% to 15% in France.
Costs and actions vary according to the income level
While services generally increase when households earn below the average salary, the share of income spent on childcare often increases. In Ireland, only one employee out of 67% of the average salary spends 19%, compared to 14% to 100% of the average salary.
Two -income couples, when the two earn the average salary, spend 22% of their wages in child care. This increases to 25% when a parent represents 67% of the average salary and the other is in minimum wages.
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Why are childcare services weak in Germany but raised in the United Kingdom?
“The very low percentage in Germany (similar to Austria) results from the effect that the raw costs of children’s care is very low on average,” said Michael Fuchs, principal researcher at the European Center for Social Welfare Policy and Research, in Euronews Business.
He explained that in Austria – and probably in Germany – children’s childcare costs are low because most public institutions have no fees. In Austria, for example, the crèche and the kindergarten are free, with only lunch costs to pay.
“On the contrary, in the United Kingdom, the raw childcare costs are very high given the widespread private market,” he added.
