Children aged less than 3 years in formal childcare

In 2024, Ireland's children aged less than 3 years in formal childcare increased by 10.4% compared to 2023, reaching 24.4.

Ireland accounts for 62.2% of the EU-27 total of 39.2.

Ireland ranks 21st 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 23.8% (from 32.0 in 2019).

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