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3. Family Leave and Day Care

Get answers from parents with children aged 0-4 on day care, pre-school and parental leave.

Family Leave and Day Care

We asked parents with children aged 0-4 about using day care and parental leave during the pandemic. Find key global answers here.

Did children attend day care and pre-school during the pandemic?Globally, over a third of children aged 0-4 years old did not attend pre-school or day care during the pandemic (37%).Parents in the US kept their children out of facilities the most (59%), followed by India (55%) and Brazil (48%).Parents in France and Singapore used day care and pre-schools for their young children the most, with 62% French and 58% Singaporean reporting their 0–4-year-olds attending for most or all of the pandemic.

Did the pandemic influence parents' decisions for using day care or pre-school?For two thirds (68%) of parents who did not use a day care or preschool for their 0-4-year-old, the pandemic influenced their decisions.Most parents in Brazil (81%) and in China (76%) cited COVID-19 related concerns, whereas other markets cited other influences.In the US, only 38% cited COVID-19 related concerns and another 28% said their facility was closed.Similarly, in the UK 53% of parents had COVID-19 related concerns and 25% said their facility was closed.

Did people extend their parental leave or leave employment due to the pandemic?Globally, 58% of parents were on parental leave when the pandemic began, started leave during the pandemic or extended it due to the pandemic.This was seen the most in China with 3 out of 4 extending their parental leave whilst only 44% of US parents and 45% of German parents extended their leave.
Globally, 1 in 5 parents who were on or started parental leave during the pandemic decided not to return to work due to the pandemic.French parents had the highest rate of not returning to work (28%) followed by Brazilian parents (26%).