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AustraliaCommunity profile

In Australia 2,336,801 males (23.0% of males aged 15+) provided unpaid care to children in 2021. Of these, 442,206 males were caring for children other than their own.

The role of unpaid childcare in Australia is determined by many different factors. For example areas with high levels of unpaid child care may have a dominance of single income families with one significant earner, or there could be a lack of provision of paid child care in the area. The level to which people care for others children can also indicate the role of extended family (eg. grandparents caring for grandchildren, family day care).

The role of unpaid child care is a complex one so this topic should be viewed in conjunction with several others, including Household Type, Employment, Household Income and Educational Attendance.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'In the last two weeks did the person spend time looking after a child, without pay?', which specifically asks respondents to differentiate between caring for their own children and caring for others children.

Unpaid childcare
Australia - Males aged 15+ (Usual residence)20212016Change
Unpaid child careNumber%Greater Capital Cities %Number%Greater Capital Cities %2016 to 2021
Provided unpaid child care (all)2,336,80123.023.52,207,07623.724.0+129,725
Cared for own child/ren1,894,59518.619.51,709,74218.418.9+184,853
Cared for other child/ren400,7363.93.6454,1914.94.7-53,455
Cared for own child/ren and other child/ren41,4700.40.343,1430.50.4-1,673
No unpaid child care provided7,116,38770.070.56,284,74767.568.2+831,640
Not stated708,1387.06.0813,9678.77.8-105,829
Total persons aged 15+10,161,326100.0100.09,305,790100.0100.0+855,536
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Dominant groups

Analysis of the unpaid child care provided by the male population in Australia in 2021 compared to Greater Capital Cities shows that there was a lower proportion of males who provided unpaid child care either to their own or to other children. Overall, 23.0% of the male population provided unpaid child care, compared with 23.5% for Greater Capital Cities.

There were no major differences between Australia and Greater Capital Cities in 2021.

Emerging groups

The number of males who provided unpaid child care for their own and/or other people's children in Australia increased by 129,725 between 2016 and 2021.

The largest changes in the number of males performing unpaid child care in Australia, between 2016 and 2021 were those who:

  • No unpaid child care provided (+831,640 males)
  • Cared for own child/ren (+184,853 males)
  • Cared for other child/ren (-53,455 males)
  • Cared for own child/ren and other child/ren (-1,673 males)

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