Die Betreuung von Kleinkindern im westeuropäischen Vergleich

The paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the entitlement to early child care which has been going on in Germany since August 2013 and the pronounced ‘care guarantee’ for young children. It discusses the current situation of child care in different west European countries in the light of new data on the share of formal child care. Taking into account national specifics the article investigates the question whether demand for early child care has been satisfied. The analysis shows that the countries can be divided into three groups with respect to formal child care. In the Nordic countries extensive child care has been established, although the coverage rates in this age-group differ considerably. In the second group, countries with a tradition of nursery care, a broad range of child care can be observed for children above 3 years whereas the total amount of care for the age group under 3 years is lower. Finally, the countries of the third group, which includes Germany, share the common feature of having only a small amount of formal child care.