Higher educated mums make more use of childcare facilities than their lower educated counterparts

In 2007, 60 percent of Dutch households where the mother had attained a high education level made use of childcare facilities. This is nearly twice as often as for households where the mother was lower educated. Only 35 percent of these households made use of childcare facilities. This is partly caused by the fact that higher educated mothers spend more hours on the job than their lower educated counterparts.

Households where the mother is higher educated more often preferred formal types of childcare (30 percent), while lower educated mothers opted for unpaid childcare (25 percent) provided by family and relatives. The use of childcare facilities has increased at the same rate for all levels of education in 2007 relative to 2005, i.e. by 10 percentage points.

Households and childcare