Monthly Childcare Cost for Infants and Toddlers 970,000 Won per Household... 'Workplace Daycare' Ranks First in Satisfaction

Ministry of Health and Welfare Announces Results of '2021 Childcare Status Survey'
Average Monthly Cost of Daycare Centers 56,000 Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] In households raising infants and toddlers aged 0 to 5 in South Korea, it was found that an average of 976,000 KRW is spent monthly on childcare expenses.

On the 27th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the results of the '2021 Childcare Status Survey' containing this information. The Childcare Status Survey is a statutory survey conducted once every three years under the Infant Care Act. This survey was conducted targeting 2,500 households receiving childcare fees, preschool tuition, and childcare allowances, as well as 3,300 daycare centers.

Childcare Expenses per Household Increase, Daycare Usage Costs Decrease

According to the survey results, the average monthly childcare expenses for households raising infants and toddlers aged 0 to 5 amounted to 976,000 KRW, which is 19.3% of household income. This figure sums up the costs directly paid by households for childcare, private education, clothing, food, and insurance.

Compared to the 2018 survey, childcare expenses per household increased by 107,000 KRW. When classified by the number of children in the household, single-child households spent 863,000 KRW, two-child households 1,304,000 KRW, and three-child households 1,855,000 KRW on childcare.

On the other hand, the costs paid by guardians for using daycare centers and kindergartens decreased compared to 2018. In particular, 29.6% of households responded that they had 'no cost' for daycare center usage, the highest among all responses. This is an increase of 12.2 percentage points from 17.4% in 2018. Households spending between 50,000 and 100,000 KRW accounted for 24.3%, following behind. This is because the government fully supports parental childcare fees under the principle of free childcare, and guardians only pay for some costs such as special activity fees and field trip fees.

The average monthly daycare center usage cost in 2021 was 56,000 KRW, a decrease of 5,000 KRW from 61,000 KRW in 2018. Kindergarten usage costs also decreased by 50,000 KRW, from 239,000 KRW in 2018 to 189,000 KRW in 2021.

The Most Preferred Childcare Facility is Workplace Daycare Centers

The type of daycare center that parents were most satisfied with was 'workplace daycare centers.' Workplace daycare centers scored the highest satisfaction rating of 4.62 points, while private daycare centers scored the lowest at 4.02 points. Workplace daycare centers were also ranked first in satisfaction with a score of 4.37 in the 2018 survey. Corporate and organizational daycare centers scored 4.23 points, public daycare centers 4.15 points, and home daycare centers 4.12 points, ranking second, third, and fourth respectively. The overall satisfaction with daycare centers averaged 4.10 points, higher than 4.03 in 2018.

The top childcare policy desired by parents was 'expansion of public daycare centers,' continuing from 2018. Among respondents, 22% expressed a desire for the expansion of public daycare centers. The demand for increased childcare and education support was close behind at 21.7%, followed by the establishment of parental leave systems at 14.8%, and improvement in the quality of childcare service institutions at 14.4%.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to continuously expand public daycare centers to raise the public childcare utilization rate to 50% by 2025. The public childcare utilization rate refers to the proportion of children using public daycare centers, social welfare corporation daycare centers, and workplace daycare centers among all children attending daycare centers. Over the past five years, the number of public daycare centers has increased annually: 3,157 in 2017, 3,602 in 2018, 4,324 in 2019, 4,958 in 2020, and 5,424 in 2021.

A Ministry of Health and Welfare official stated, "We will do our best to ensure high-quality childcare by reflecting the positions of daycare centers and guardians in the five-year mid- to long-term childcare plan going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.