Mapping the deserts: Childcare accessibility in Australia

We know that reliable access to early learning is critical to families around the world.

It helps support parents to participate in the workforce, which results in enormous economic and social advantages. High-quality early learning can give children the best start in life and helps them thrive.

An election promise of the Labor government was to investigate how Australia could build a universal early childhood education and care system. This follows Mitchell Institute research into accessibility, known as 'childcare deserts'. A childcare desert is where there are more than three children vying for every childcare place.

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.

The table below shows that there is big differences in the amount of childcare accessibility by state. The Australian Capital Territory has the best access to childcare, while Tasmania has the lowest.

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.

Where you live still impacts childcare access. The map below shows the results of our analysis into childcare accessibility across Australia. The areas in red have the lowest levels of accessibility. The areas in blue have the best access.

We have updated our methodology from our previous report into childcare accessibility. In our new approach we include preschools in our analysis.

Preschools deliver early childhood education programs that are designed to help children prepare for the transition to prep, or their first year of primary school. Often they are set hours and are shorter sessions such as 10 am – 1 pm or 2 pm – 4 pm.  

Preschools are more like schools, in the sense that there is greater government involvement in preschool delivery and the funding arrangement is different to Child Care Subsidy services.

Centre-based services, or long day care, cater to children aged zero to six years old, offer extended hours, and can operate ten to twelve hours each day, five days a week.

In our analysis, we compared accessibility of preschools and long day care services and how this interacted with socioeconomic status. We wanted to know how different models and approaches impacted accessibility.

The figure below shows a comparison of accessibility of long day care services and preschools. The line across the middle is the average. If the line is above zero, this means there is greater accessibility in these areas. If it is below zero, it means there is lower access than average.

In our analysis, we found that for long day care services, there was generally better accessibility in the more advantaged areas. However, with preschool it was the opposite and there was greater accessibility in the more disadvantaged areas.

Price can have a big factor on where centres choose to operate. The figure below shows the average long day care places per child by the five largest capital cities in Australia. It also includes the average fee per hour that services charge.

Our analysis shows that there is better accessibility where prices are higher.

This helps highlight the importance of incentives in the distribution of childcare places. In Australia's early learning system, providers are a mixture of for-profit, not-for-profit and government organisations. The main source of income is the hourly fee they charge families. Our analysis suggests that providers are not only responding to demand (through parents need for childcare) but also to the possibility of higher fees in certain areas.

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.

A note on language

Childcare can take many forms and be called different things around the world. It can be informal, such as when provided by family members, or formal, like services provided in dedicated centres or preschools. Childcare can also be referred to as early childhood education and care (ECEC) and early learning.

We use the term childcare in this report to describe a range of formal services that are designed for children before they start schooling. These settings usually include centre-based day care, preschools, creches, childminders, nurseries and kindergartens. It is important to note that the term childcare is not preferred by many working the industry, despite its widespread acceptance. Read more about the use of language and terms in childcare (PDF, 172KB).