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Canberra Region Joint Organisation areaCommunity profile

Canberra Region

Unpaid childcare

In Canberra Region 63,175 people (24.9% of people aged 15+) provided unpaid care to children in 2021. Of these, 18,138 people were caring for children other than their own.

The role of unpaid childcare in Canberra Region 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
Canberra Region - Persons aged 15+ (Usual residence)20212016Change
Unpaid child careNumber%Regional NSW %Number%Regional NSW %2016 to 2021
Provided unpaid child care (all)63,17524.925.659,52525.727.1+3,650
Cared for own child/ren45,03717.818.240,97517.718.3+4,062
Cared for other child/ren16,2496.46.616,8297.37.9-580
Cared for own child/ren and other child/ren1,8890.70.81,7210.70.8+168
No unpaid child care provided172,09567.967.1148,43764.263.3+23,658
Not stated18,1507.27.423,23310.09.6-5,083
Total persons aged 15+253,420100.0100.0231,195100.0100.0+22,225
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 population in Canberra Region in 2021 compared to Regional NSW shows that there was a lower proportion of people who provided unpaid child care either to their own or to other children. Overall, 24.9% of the population provided unpaid child care, compared with 25.6% for Regional NSW.

There were no major differences between Canberra Region and Regional NSW in 2021.

Emerging groups

The number of people who provided unpaid child care for their own and/or other people's children in Canberra Region increased by 3,650 between 2016 and 2021.

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

  • No unpaid child care provided (+23,658 persons)
  • Cared for own child/ren (+4,062 persons)
  • Cared for other child/ren (-580 persons)
  • Cared for own child/ren and other child/ren (+168 persons)

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