In SSROC region 322,531 people (21.8% of people aged 15+) provided unpaid care to children in 2021. Of these, 48,665 people were caring for children other than their own.
The role of unpaid childcare in SSROC 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.
'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSROC region - Persons aged 15+ (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Unpaid child care | Number | % | Greater Sydney % | Number | % | Greater Sydney % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Provided unpaid child care (all) | 322,531 | 21.8 | 25.2 | 336,258 | 23.8 | 27.3 | -13,727 |
| Cared for own child/ren | 273,866 | 18.5 | 21.3 | 251,374 | 17.8 | 20.3 | +22,492 |
| Cared for other child/ren | 45,598 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 78,190 | 5.5 | 6.4 | -32,592 |
| Cared for own child/ren and other child/ren | 3,067 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 6,694 | 0.5 | 0.6 | -3,627 |
| No unpaid child care provided | 1,063,557 | 71.9 | 68.9 | 958,375 | 67.7 | 65.2 | +105,182 |
| Not stated | 93,770 | 6.3 | 5.9 | 120,232 | 8.5 | 7.5 | -26,462 |
| Total persons aged 15+ | 1,479,858 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1,414,865 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +64,993 |
Analysis of the unpaid child care provided by the population in SSROC region in 2021 compared to Greater Sydney shows that there was a lower proportion of people who provided unpaid child care either to their own or to other children. Overall, 21.8% of the population provided unpaid child care, compared with 25.2% for Greater Sydney.
The major differences between the share of the population providing unpaid child care in SSROC region and Greater Sydney were:
The number of people who provided unpaid child care for their own and/or other people's children in SSROC region decreased by 13,727 between 2016 and 2021.
The largest changes in the number of people performing unpaid child care in SSROC region, between 2016 and 2021 were those who:
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