What does the statistics on day care for children describe?
The statistics provides information on institutions, the number of places available there and the personnel working in the field of day care for children. The concept of "day care facilities for children" covers both institutions which are open only part of the day and institutions which are open in the mornings and in the afternoons (with or without lunch) five days a week. Major types of institutions are crèches (for children under three), kindergartens (for children aged three to school entry) or after-school care centres (for school children). The survey collects basic data on the places available for children’s day care and on the personnel. The data are important for planning day care facilities for children at local and supra-regional level in view of the legal claim to a kindergarten place passed in 1992 and effective since 1996. On account of the increased demand for information, the scope of variables and items covered has been extended considerably in the survey on day care facilities for children. Therefore, information has been available on the "types of places available" since 1994 (e.g. all-day provision with lunch). Furthermore, it is possible to calculate the number of places available for children under three years of age (créche), children aged three until they enter school (kindergarten) and from school entry (after-school care) since 1994. This detailed supply of data shows whether and to what extent the number of childcare places offered enables mothers, for instance, to engage in gainful employment. Regarding the personnel in day care facilities for children, data are collected on age and gender, vocational training completed, occupational status and field of work in youth welfare and employment volume. For the latter, contractually agreed weekly working hours are recorded, so precise information can be provided on the extent of part-time work. Data on the children cared for have not been collected so far. As soon as the legal basis of the statistics will have been supplemented in 2005, information will be recorded also on children in day care facilities.
How is the statistics on day care for children compiled?
The statistics on day care for children is a decentralised statistics. The Federal Statistical Office prepares the survey documents and processing programmes and produces the federal result. The statistical survey is conducted by the statistical offices of the Länder. The survey is carried out at four-year intervals with reference date 31 December. The latest survey was conducted for the year 2002. The statistics on day care for children is regulated in §§ 98 to 103 of the Eighth Book of the Code of Social Law (SGBVIII). The data collected are specified in § 99 Section 9 SGBVIII. In keeping with § 102 SGBVIII, local and supra-local bodies of youth welfare, the supreme Land youth authorities, the municipalities attached to an administrative district and associations of municipalities are obliged to provide information – provided that they perform duties of youth welfare as defined by § 69 Section 5 SGBVIII – as well as the private bodies of youth welfare and the managerial organs of institutions, authorities and branch offices in youth welfare. In 1994, the statistics on day care for children was compiled for the first time for the old and the new federal Länder by means of a separate survey. In 1990, the data had been compiled for the former territory of the Federal Republic and in 1991 for the new Länder incl. Berlin-East as part of the statistics on institutions and personnel in youth welfare.
When are the results of the statistics on day care for children released?
Preliminary results are published by the Federal Statistical Office by means of a press release in the year following the respective reference day. The press releases and the tables containing the results of the statistics may be accessed on the internet pages of the Federal Statistical Office. The statistical offices of the Länder publish the data for their Land with a detailed regional breakdown. Data on day care centres for children at the level of administrative districts and municipalities are provided also by the CD-ROM "Statistik regional" (Regional Statistics) and the database "GENESIS-Online regional" in the internet.
How precise is the statistics on day care for children?
The statistics on day care for children is based on an exhaustive survey, i.e. it covers all institutions of that kind in Germany. Regular, extensive plausibility checks and quality control safeguard the informative value and the quality of the results. Due to the survey programme expansions of 1994 and 1998, data with the same detailed breakdown are not available for all survey dates. This has been indicated in the respective cases. After the regional reform in Berlin in 2002, it is no longer possible to break the data down by the eastern and the western part of the city. As a consequence, the data for Berlin have been excluded from the results for the former territory and the new Länder. The data for Berlin can be determined by calculating the difference between Western and Eastern Germany on the one hand and Germany as a whole on the other. They may also be obtained from the contacts indicated below. For the years before, the results were adjusted for reasons of comparability.
