Child care arrangements of children aged 6 to 12 years, 2025
Released: 2026-03-12
In early 2025, just over one-third (35%) of children aged 6 to 12 years attending school were in child care in Canada. Younger children aged 6 to 8 years (47%) were more likely to be in child care than those aged 9 to 10 years (33%) or 11 to 12 years (20%).
While the Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements provides data and insights on children aged 0 to 5 years, the 2025 cycle also collected information on children aged 6 to 12 years in the provinces.
Today's release focuses on child care use among school-aged children during the school year and summer.
Before- or after-school programs are the most common type of child care
In early 2025, the most common arrangement among children attending child care was before- or after-school programs (52%), followed by care by a relative other than a parent or guardian (38%).
Chart 1
Proportion of children aged 6 to 12 years in child care, by type of child care arrangement, among those in child care and school, 2025
Parents of children aged 6 to 12 said that location (67%) was the most important criterion when choosing their main child care arrangement. Among those using a before- or after-school program or a daycare centre as their main arrangement, 83% said their child care was located in an elementary school.
Affordable cost (42%) and hours of operation (40%) were the next most common reasons reported by parents for choosing their child's main child care arrangement.
Children are most likely to attend child care after school
Since hours of operation are important to parents, the 2025 survey asked new questions about what times of day children attended child care. A higher percentage of children in child care attended after school (88%) than before school (43%).
Child care outside regular operating hours is sometimes needed to accommodate parents' busy schedules. These times include early mornings from 5 to 7 a.m., evenings after 6 p.m., overnight and weekends. In fact, one in four children participating in any type of child care attended during these non-standard hours.
A higher proportion of children attend child care during the summer than during the school year
During the summer break, parents may need to make different arrangements for child care. The 2025 survey also asked parents which child care arrangements, if any, they used during the summer of 2024. Child care attendance was notably higher in the summer (61%) than during the school year (35%).
The most common types of arrangements among those in child care during the summer were day camps (59%), relatives other than a parent or guardian (44%) and friends or neighbours (10%).
Chart 2
Proportion of children aged 6 to 12 years in child care in the summer, by type of child care arrangement, among those in child care in the summer, 2025
Note to readers
The Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements (SELCCA) provides a snapshot of child care use in Canada.
The SELCCA data was collected from January to April 2025. The response rate for the 6-to-12-year-old cohort was 44.7%, yielding a sample size of 8,834 children, which represents about 2.9 million children in the provinces.
The target population was children aged 0 to 12 years in the provinces and aged 0 to 5 years in the territories. The information was gathered from a parent or guardian who was knowledgeable about the child's care arrangements.
In 2025, 98% of children aged 6 to 12 were reported as attending school in a typical week (excluding homeschooling).
Most respondents (9 in 10) were women. Children living in institutions or on reserve were excluded from the target population.
All estimates in this Daily release, unless otherwise stated, are about children aged 6 to 12 years attending school in Canada, excluding the territories. For the estimates on types of child care arrangements, the previous Daily release reported on children aged 0 to 5, whereas this release is focused on children aged 6 to 12 in school and in child care.
In this release, the term parents refer to a parent, guardian or person who was knowledgeable about the child's care arrangements. School-aged children refer to children aged 6-12 years old who are attending school.
Survey sampling weights were applied to render the analyses representative of Canadian children aged 6 to 12 years. Bootstrap weights were also applied when testing for significant differences (p < 0.05) to account for the complex survey design.
Products
The product Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements: Public Use Microdata File, 2019 to 2025 (42250001) is now available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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