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Marie Lanen
Head of parenting section (baby, pregnancy, family)
Between 2002 and 2021, the proportion of children under the age of 3 mainly entrusted to a childminder or a crèche almost doubled… This is one of the findings of the Childcare and Childcare Modes survey carried out by the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES).
In France, in 2021, 56% of children under 3 are cared for mainly by their parents. For the others, 20% are cared for by a childminder and 18% in a childcare establishment (EAJE).
Parents, the first mode of care for children under 3 years old
According to the latest figures, in 2021, there were 2 million children under the age of three living in Metropolitan France. Among them, 56% were looked after by one of their parents on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The other children are either cared for by a childminder (20%), or in a childcare establishment (18%, in particular in a municipal or departmental crèche). Before the age of one year, 7 out of 10 children are cared for mainly by their parents.
Childcare enrollment on the rise since 2002
Since 2002, children under three are less often cared for (mainly) by their parents. The crèches have taken over from the parents as well as the childminders. In 20 years, childcare establishments (EAJE) have experienced a gradual increase while childminders after having experienced an increase between 2013 and 2007 are stabilizing. On the other hand, since 2013, parental childcare has been steadily declining. In question ? The employment rate for mothers of at least one child under 3 rose from 55% in 2003 to 63% in 2020.
The mode of care depends on the activity of the parents
7 out of 10 children whose two parents work full time are entrusted to a childminder or a crèche. Whereas for nearly 9 out of 10 children whose mother has never worked, they are cared for mainly by their parents. Moreover, only 25% of children whose mother is a manager or has a higher intellectual profession are cared for mainly by their parents, against 88% of those whose mother has never worked.
Nursery or childminder, disparities depending on the region
According to the survey, families living in a rural municipality more often use a childminder or a MAM (nursery home) as their main form of childcare (28% of children) than in medium-sized and large towns. (16% to 17%). Conversely, the proportion of children cared for mainly in EAJE (nursery) increases with the size of the municipality: it reaches 20% in urban units of more than 200,000 inhabitants and up to 26% in the Paris metropolitan area. On the other hand, 49% of children in the Paris conurbation are cared for mainly by their parents, compared to 58% outside the Paris conurbation.
Nurseries remain the number 1 choice for parents
EAJE remain the first choice of parents in 93% of cases, compared to 76% for those entrusted to a childminder or MAM and 63% of children looked after by their parents. For more than half of the children entrusted mainly to an EAJE, the parents’ choice is mainly motivated by the search for fulfillment of their child (27% of them, against 18% of the children cared for mainly by a childminder) and contact with other children of the same age (25% versus 5%). The fact that the childcare mode is more financially attractive is more often mentioned in favor of crèches (13% against 2% for childminders).