Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services, 2024
Released: 2025-03-19
In 2024, there were 46,986 businesses across Canada providing child care services to nearly 1.1 million children aged 12 years and younger. In Canada, child care is often categorized by three types: centre-based child care, licensed home-based child care and unlicensed home-based child care (see Note to Readers). In 2024, there were 14,523 centre-based child care providers in Canada. These centres provided care to a total of 909,158 children, 670,730 of whom were enrolled on a full-time basis and 238,427 who were enrolled part time. In terms of home-based child care providers, there were 17,800 licensed home-based child care providers (115,506 children enrolled) and 14,663 unlicensed home-based child care providers (68,674 children enrolled).
Unlicensed home-based providers are more likely to offer child care during non-standard hours
Child care providers offer a variety of child care options to parents, such as care that is full time (six or more hours per day, five days per week), part time (either six or more hours per day for part of the week or less than six hours per day up to five days per week), before school, after school, in the evenings, on weekends, overnight, drop-in and flexible. One child care provider may offer multiple options to parents.
In 2024, the majority of child care centres (77.2%), licensed home-based child care providers (93.8%) and unlicensed home-based child care providers (72.1%) serving children 12 years and younger offered full-time care. Meanwhile, 50.6% of child care centres, 23.7% of licensed home-based child care providers and 43.4% of unlicensed home-based child care providers offered part-time care.
In 2024, unlicensed home-based child care providers were more likely than child care centres and licensed home-based child care providers to offer care during non-standard hours, such as overnight, evenings and weekends (see Chart 1). They were also more likely to offer flexible care (16.7%) compared with child care centres (11.0%) and licensed home-based child care providers (5.2%).
Chart 1
Type of child care program offered, Canada, 2024
Majority of child care providers report operating at maximum capacity
Over 8 in 10 licensed home-based child care providers (81.2%) serving children aged 12 years and younger were operating at their maximum capacity in 2024. Meanwhile, 75.9% of unlicensed home-based child care providers and 59.5% of child care centres were operating at their maximum capacity. Over one-third (34.7%) of child care centres had maximum capacities ranging from 1 to 40 children, while nearly one-quarter (24.9%) had a maximum capacity of 81 children or more. The majority of both licensed home-based child care providers (84.7%) and unlicensed home-based child care providers (77.5%) had maximum capacities ranging from four to eight children.
Child care providers were asked whether their maximum capacity as of April 8, 2024, had increased, decreased or stayed the same compared with April 7, 2023. The majority of child care centres (81.9%), licensed home-based child care providers (86.1%) and unlicensed home-based child care providers (88.9%) reported their maximum capacity having stayed the same.
Centre-based child care providers are more likely to report having waitlists
Previous parent-reported surveys have shown that many parents who use child care services experienced difficulty finding placements. As of April 8, 2024, 77.3% of child care centres, 61.5% of licensed home-based child care providers and 38.4% of unlicensed home-based child care providers had an active waitlist.
The Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services did not collect information from parents, so it is not possible to determine why children were on waitlists (e.g., preferred location, time or services; lack of access to any child care) or how long they were on waitlists.
Most child care centres report having difficulties filling vacant staff positions
In 2024, over 8 in 10 child care centres (86.4%) reported experiencing difficulties when trying to fill vacant positions. The most common difficulties were applicants' lack of skills required for the job (66.7%), having few or no applicants to choose from (62.3%) and applicants' lack of related work experience (53.3%).
Child care centres serving children aged 12 years and younger employed 176,513 people who worked full time or part time (not including casual or on-call staff, unpaid students or volunteers) in 2024. While the majority of child care centres employed full-time supervisory staff (90.6%) and full-time non-supervisory staff who provided direct care to children (78.3%), less than half (42.8%) employed full-time support staff, such as cooks, cleaners and accountants. Meanwhile, lesser proportions of child care centres employed supervisory staff (16.9%), non-supervisory staff who provided direct care to children (50.1%) and support staff (22.7%) on a part-time basis.
Two-fifths of providers of licensed home-based child care report having an Early Childhood Education certificate or diploma as their highest level of formal early childhood education
In 2024, two-fifths (40.1%) of providers of licensed home-based child care and over one-fifth (21.3%) of providers of unlicensed home-based child care reported their highest level of formal early childhood education (ECE) training being a certificate or diploma after having completed a program of one to four years. Meanwhile, 15.3% of providers of licensed home-based child care and 7.2% of providers of unlicensed home-based child care reported their highest level of formal ECE training being a course or workshop lasting less than one year.
More than 4 in 10 unlicensed home-based child care providers unlikely to be providing care in three years
In 2024, more than 4 in 10 unlicensed child care providers (42.6%) serving children aged 12 years and younger reported not intending to continue providing child care services in their home in three years. The most common reasons cited were that they planned to retire (31.7%), their own children, grandchildren or relatives would no longer need them to be at home (25.6%) and they were ready for a career change (25.2%).
Meanwhile, 16.4% of licensed home-based child care providers reported not intending to continue providing child care services in their home in three years. The top three reasons cited were that they planned to retire (41.9%), they felt they needed a break (21.5%) and they were ready for a career change (18.8%).
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Note to readers
These results are from the 2024 Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services. This survey collected information about the provision of child care services in Canada for children aged 12 and younger in the spring of 2024. The survey sample was selected from Statistics Canada's Business Register and from publicly available provincial and territorial lists of child care providers. Child care services located within schools that provide before school and after school care, which may not be classified as separate child care businesses in Statistics Canada's Business Register or publicly available lists, may not be included. As such, child care centres that serve school-aged children may be underrepresented. The degree of this gap may vary across provinces and territories, depending on how school-based child care services are regulated and managed.
For the purpose of this survey, child care businesses were defined by three broad categories: child care centres, licensed home-based child care and unlicensed home-based child care. Child care centres, typically located in a non-residential building, are generally larger in terms of both the number of children served and the number of employees. Licensed home-based child care providers adhere to established regulations determined by provincial or territorial standards, are smaller than centres in terms of the number of children attending, and generally have no additional employees. Unlicensed home-based child care providers are also small in terms of the number of children attending and generally have no employees, but they choose to provide a service outside the regulated system, with the only requirement being a maximum number of children at one time.
Contact information
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