Children aged less than 3 years in formal childcare

In 2021, Ireland's children aged less than 3 years in formal childcare decreased by 16.9% compared to 2020, reaching 14.8.

Ireland accounts for 39.2% of the EU-27 total of 37.8.

Ireland ranks 23rd out of 27 EU member states with reported data — in the bottom half of the distribution.

Over the past five years, the indicator has fallen by 29.2% (from 20.9 in 2016).

Source: Eurostat dataset tepsr_sp210, accessed via the eupublicdata pipeline.