# EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology - childcare arrangements

This article is part of a set of articles describing the methodology applied for the computation of the statistical indicators pertinent to the subject area of Childcare arrangements (ilc_ca) within the overall domain of Income and living conditions. For these indicators, the article provides a methodological and practical framework of reference. The indicators relevant to the subject area of childcare arrangements are the following:

• Formal childcare - % of children cared for by formal arrangements
• Average number of weekly hours of formal care
• Median number of weekly hours of formal care
• Other types of childcare – % of children cared for by other types of childcare
• Average number of weekly hours of other types of care
• Median number of weekly hours of other types of care
• % of children cared only by their parents

Moreover, since the indicators are of multidimensional structure and can be analysed simultaneously along several dimensions, the separate datasets providing these indicators along with the different combinations of dimensions are also presented.

## Description

• Formal childcare - % of children cared for by formal arrangements refers to the percentage of children cared for, by formal arrangements other than by the family a usual week.
• The average number of weekly hours of formal care is defined as the weighted average number of weekly hours that children cared for, by formal arrangements other than by the family.
• Median number of weekly hours of formal care refers to the weighted median number of weekly hours that children cared for, by formal arrangements other than by the family.
• Other types of childcare – % of children cared for by other types of childcare is defined as the percentage of children cared for, by arrangements of the child’s family either in child’s home or elsewhere a usual week.
• The average number of weekly hours of other types of care is defined as the weighted average number of weekly hours that children cared for, by arrangements of the child’s family either in child’s home or elsewhere.
• Median number of weekly hours of other types of care: refers to the weighted median number of weekly hours that children cared for, by arrangements of the child’s family either in child’s home or elsewhere.
• % of children cared only by their parents: refers to the percentage of children cared for, by arrangements of the child’s parents either in child’s home or elsewhere.

## Statistical population

The childcare target population consists of all household members below the age of 12 years old. This holds for the following indicators: formal childcare - % of children cared for, by formal arrangements, other types of childcare – % of children cared for by other types of childcare, and to the % of children cared only by their parents.

For the calculation of the average number of weekly hours of formal care, all household members below the age of 12 years old, with or without formal care or with at least 1 hour of formal care are included, whereas for the median number of weekly hours of formal care all household members below the age of 12 years old and with at least 1 hour of formal care are included.

For the calculation of the average number of weekly hours of other types of care, the childcare target population consists of all household members below the age of 12 years old, with or without other types of care or with at least 1 hour of other types of care. All household members below the age of 12 years old and with at least 1 hour of other types of care are included in the calculation of the median number of weekly hours of other types of care.

In any case children living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target population.

## Reference period

All indicators are collected and disseminated on an annual basis and refer to the survey year.

The reference period for all dimensions along with the indicators are disseminated is the survey year. Childage is the age at survey year, with the exception of Ireland and Finland where childage is the age at the end of the previous of survey year.

## Unit of measurement

The formal childcare - % of children cared for by formal arrangements, the other types of childcare – % of children cared for by other types of childcare and the children cared only by their parents are given as a percentage of children in the relevant age groups.

The average number of weekly hours of formal care, median number of weekly hours of formal care, average number of weekly hours of other types of care and the median number of weekly hours of other types of care are given in hours.

## Dimensions

The separate datasets provide each indicator along with the Geopolitical entity and time dimensions and the dimensions presented below.

The formal childcare - % of children cared for by formal arrangements and the other types of childcare – % of children cared for by other types of childcare are presented along with the following dimensions: childrens' age group (CHILDAGE) and duration of childcare

The average number of weekly hours of formal care is presented along with the following dimensions: by children's age group (CHILDAGE) and number of weekly hours of formal care (children with or without formal care and children with at least 1 hour of formal care).

The median number of weekly hours of formal care is also given broken down by childrens' age group (CHILDAGE) and number of weekly hours of formal care (children with at least 1 hour of formal care).

The average number of weekly hours of of other types of care is presented along with the following dimensions: by children's age group (CHILDAGE) and number of weekly hours of other type of care (children with or without other type of care and children with at least 1 hour of other type of care).

The median number of weekly hours of other types of care is also given broken down by childrens' age group (CHILDAGE) and number of weekly hours of other types of care (children with at least 1 hour of other type of care).

The % of children cared only by their parents is broken down by childrens' age group (CHILDAGE) and and number of hours of parental care (with at least one hour of care).

## Calculation method

1. Formal childcare - % of children cared for by formal arrangements:

This indicator describes the distribution of children cared ($FCSHARE_{at\_CHILDAGE/DURATION}$) for by formal arrangements other than by the family, broken down by age and duration group as a proportion of all children of same age group.

The weight variable used is the Child Weight.

$FCSHARE_{at\_CHILDAGE/DURATION}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE/DURATION} Child\;Weight_i}{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE} Child\;Weight_i} \times 100$

2. Average number of weekly hours of formal care

This indicator describes the weighted average number of weekly hours that children cared for ($FCAVEH\_ALL_{at\_CHILDAGE}$), by formal arrangements other than by the family in the relevant age and number of hours of formal care dimensions.

The weight variable used is the Child Weight.

$FCAVEH\_ALL_{at\_CHILDAGE}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE} Formal\;Hours_i \times Child\;Weight_i}{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE} Child\;Weight_i}$

where formal hours make take the following values: children with or without formal care and children with at least 1 hour of formal care.

3. Median number of weekly hours of formal care:

This indicator describes the weighted median number of weekly hours that children cared for ($FCMEDH0_{at\_CHILDAGE}$), by formal arrangements other than by the family in the relevant age and number of hours of formal care (with at least one hour of care) dimensions.

The weight variable used is the Child Weight.

$FCMEDH0_{at\_CHILDAGE}=\left\{\begin{matrix} \frac{1}{2} (Formal\_Hours_{j\_at\_CHILDAGE}+Formal\_Hours_{j+1\_at\_CHILDAGE}), if \sum \limits_{i=1}^{j}Child\;Weight_i=\frac{1}{2}\sum \limits_{i=1}^{j+1}Child\;Weight_i \\ Formal\_Hours_{j+1\_at\_CHILDAGE} , if \sum \limits_{i=1}^{j}Child\;Weight_i\lt \frac{1}{2}\sum \limits_{i=1}^{n}Child\;Weight_i \lt \sum \limits_{i=1}^{j+1}Child\;Weight_i \end{matrix}\right.$

4. Other types of childcare – % of children cared for by other types of childcare:

This indicator describes the distribution of children cared $(OTCSHARE_{at\_CHILDAGE/DURATION})$ for by arrangements of the child’s family either in child’s home or elsewhere broken down by age and duration dimensions as a proportion of all children of same age group.

The weight variable used is the Child Weight.

$OTCSHARE_{at\_CHILDAGE/DURATION}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE\_DURATION} Child\;Weight_i}{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE} Child\;Weight_i} \times 100$

5. Average number of weekly hours of other types of care:

This dataset describes the weighted average number of weekly hours that children cared for $(OTCAVEH\_ALL_{at\_CHILDAGE})$, by arrangements of the child’s family either in child’s home or elsewhere in the relevant age and number of hours of other types of care dimensions.

The weight variable used is the Child Weight.

$OTCAVEH\_ALL_{at\_CHILDAGE}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE} Other\;Hours_i \times Child\;Weight_i}{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_CHILDAGE} Child\;Weight_i}$

where hours of other types of care make take the following values: children with or without other types of care and children with at least 1 hour of other type of care.

8. Median number of weekly hours of other types of care:

This indicator describes the weighted median number of weekly hours that children cared for $(OTCMEDH0_{at\_CHILDAGE})$, by arrangements of the child’s family either in child’s home or elsewhere in the relevant number of hours of other types of care (with at least one hour of care) age dimensions.

The weight variable used is the Child Weight.

$OTCMEDH0_{at\_CHILDAGE}=\left\{\begin{matrix} \frac{1}{2} (Other\_Hours_{j\_at\_CHILDAGE}+Other\_Hours_{j+1\_at\_CHILDAGE}), if \sum \limits_{i=1}^{j}Child\;Weight_i=\frac{1}{2}\sum \limits_{i=1}^{j+1}Child\;Weight_i \\ Other\_Hours_{j+1\_at\_CHILDAGE} , if \sum \limits_{i=1}^{j}Child\;Weight_i\lt \frac{1}{2}\sum \limits_{i=1}^{n}Child\;Weight_i \lt \sum \limits_{i=1}^{j+1}Child\;Weight_i \end{matrix}\right.$

9. % of children cared only by their parents:

This indicator describes the distribution of children cared $(PARCSHARE_{at\_CHILDAGE/DURATION})$ for by arrangements of the child’s parents either in child’s home or elsewhere and by age and number of hours of parental care (with at least one hour of care) as a proportion of all children of same age group.

The weight variable used is the Child Weight.

$PARCSHARE_{at\_CHILDAGE/DURATION}=\frac{\sum \limits_{\forall i\_at\_CHILDAGE/DURATION\geq 1} Child\;Weight_i}{\sum \limits_{\forall i\_at\_CHILDAGE} Child\;Weight_i}\times 100$

With regard to the calculation of all indicators, the following methodological issues should taken into consideration:

• Comparability is restricted across countries because of differences among countries due to the age of admission to compulsory primary education. This kind of lack of comparability will be quite difficult to reduce or eliminate, as it would imply a harmonisation of the national educational systems. In addition, the comparability is also restricted due to different length of maternity leave in the countries.
• The comparability over time is restricted because of the shortness of the time series. For a large number of countries data are available from 2005 onwards.
• Health care data on resources and patients are largely based on administrative data sources in the countries. Therefore, they reflect the country-specific way of organising health care and may not always be completely comparable.

Moreover, there are some methodological limitations that pertain to the following dimensions accompanying the indicator: Duration in childcare

## Main concepts

For the production of the indicators relevant to the subject area of childcare arrangements, the variables listed below are also involved in computations:

## SAS program files

SAS programming routines developed for the computation of the EU-SILC childcare arrangements datasets along with the different dimensions, are listed below.

Dataset SAS program file
Formal childcare by age group and duration - % over the population of each age group ilc_caindformal table1.sas
Average number of weekly hours of formal care by age group - Children with or without formal care ilc_camnforall table2.sas
Average number of weekly hours of formal care by age group - Children with at least 1 hour of formal care ilc_camnforg0 table2.sas
Median number of weekly hours of formal care by age group - Children with at least 1 hour of formal care ilc_camdforg0 table2_median.sas
Other types of childcare by age group and duration - % over the population of each age group ilc_caindother table3.sas
Average number of weekly hours of other types of care by age group - Children with or without other types of care ilc_camnothall table4.sas
Average number of weekly hours of other types of care by age group - Children with at least one hour of other types of care ilc_camnothg0 table4.sas
Median number of weekly hours of other types of care by age group - Children with at least one hour of other types of care ilc_camdothg0 table4_median.sas
Children cared only by their parents by age group - % over the population of each age group ilc_caparents table5.sas

## Further Eurostat information

### Database

• Living conditions and welfare (livcon), see:
Income and living conditions (ilc)
People at risk of poverty or social exclusion (Europe 2020 strategy) (ilc_pe)
Main indicator - Europe 2020 target on poverty and social exclusion (ilc_peps)

### Dedicated section

Income and living conditions (ilc)