Child care arrangements, 2023

In 2023, just over half (56%) of children aged 0 to 5 years were in licensed or unlicensed child care in Canada. While this rate was higher than it was in both 2022 (52%) and 2020 (52%), it has not yet reached the 2019 pre-pandemic level, when 60% of children in this age group were in child care.

Many parents and guardians rely on child care for their young children, whether it is centre-based or licensed or unlicensed home-based child care. Other children are cared for by a relative, such as grandparents, or a non-relative, such as a nanny. While previous results have highlighted the impact of the pandemic on the use of child care, today's release of the 2023 Canadian Survey on Early Learning and Child Care in Canada and the 2023 Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements provides insights on how child care use has evolved since 2019, before the onset of the pandemic. The results released today also reflect the implementation of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care System.