Excerpts
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In this interactive article, taken from our International childcare report: Mapping the deserts, we re-examine accessibility to childcare using the most recent data. We explore different parts of Australia's ECEC system to understand what has changed, and what the locations of early childhood providers can tell us about how families experience the early learning system.
Towards a universal early childhood system
In our analysis, we compared the latest data on the amount of available childcare in 2024 to data from 2020. The means we can better understand childcare accessibility across Australia, and also how understand how childcare accessibility has changed.
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Overall, childcare accessibility has improved across Australia. In 2020, about 34 per cent of regions were classified as a childcare desert. By 2024, this had dropped to 24 per cent.
There are two main reasons for this change. The first is that there are more childcare places available. The number of childcare places available has increased by about 10 per cent between 2020 and 2024. The other reason is that the population growth of children aged under five years old has not grown.
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Next steps
Global research confirms that children build invaluable skills in the first five years of life. From language, to social, emotional and cognitive development, this crucial period of intense growth informs later outcomes.
Right now, nations around the world are embarking on new policies designed to increase the supply and accessibility of early childhood education and care. This includes Australia. Despite the intense policy focus, there are lots of gaps in our understanding.
The next stage of our analysis will look at how other countries have structured their early learning system. We want to understand how systems function and what we can learn from other parts of the world.
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