Trends in child care
In 2014, an estimated 48% of all Australian children aged 0–12 (1.8 million children), regularly attend
either formal or informal care (see Chapter 3 ‘Children in child care and preschool programs’ for
more details). Of these children, 919,400 attended formal care and 1.4 million used informal care
(ABS 2015). Formal care is before or after school care programs, long day care and family day care;
examples of informal care are care provided by a grandparent, brother or sister, non-resident parent,
other relative or other person. (Further details on formal and informal care can be found in Chapter 3
‘Children in child care and preschool programs’.)