The role of unpaid childcare in the City of Ballarat is determined by many different factors. For example, areas with high levels of unpaid childcare may have a dominance of single-income families with one significant earner, or there could be a lack of provision of paid childcare in the area. Generally, most parents of children provide childcare to their own children, so childcare is strongly related to Household Type.

Though gender roles are changing, traditionally, child care has been more commonly provided by females than males, particularly caring for children other than their own, and this is still reflected in the data for most areas. Across Australia in 2021, 29.5% of all females provided unpaid childcare, compared to 23.0% of males.

Also please note that in 2021, the COVID pandemic affected this variable, particularly for those providing care for children other than their own. Lockdowns and restrictions on visiting other households during the pandemic caused the "Cared for other children" to fall by over 160,000 people nationwide.