Hamburg High attendance rate in the west

Supervision rate for toddlers in West Germany increased significantly

02/20/2015

According to the latest Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) notification, the childcare rate of young children in the West German federal states has increased significantly in the wake of the introduction of a legal entitlement to a childcare place. Nevertheless, the attendance rate in West Germany remains well below the attendance rate in East Germany. The highest rates in the west reached Hamburg.

According to information from the Federal Statistical Office „significantly more children under the age of 3 were cared for in the day care center or in publicly funded day care in the West German districts and independent cities“, than a year earlier. Since the entry into force of the legal entitlement to a childcare place for children from the age of one year to August 1, 2013, the care rate in the West German federal states has increased significantly. The university city of Heidelberg has now reached just under 47 percent among under-3s, Hamburg has reached 43 percent, and in the Bavarian district of Coburg, the care rate has been just over 42 percent.

Hamburg leader among the West German states
While the West German federal states have an overall increase in the average care rate, individual cities are lagging behind. For example, the district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria only achieved a quota of 13.9 percent. On the other hand, Frankfurt (Oder), with 63 percent, and the district of Elbe-Elster and the district of Wittenberg, each with 62.8 percent, had the highest childcare rates in Germany for children under the age of three. Overall, one third of the 325 counties and independent cities in West Germany had a care rate of at least 30 percent, which means a doubling in comparison to the year 2013, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Hamburg, but also Rhineland-Palatinate (30.6 percent) and Schleswig-Holstein (30.3 percent) recorded the highest attendance rates here. The nationwide lowest rate was according to the announcement of the „Hamburger Abendblatts“ in North Rhine-Westphalia (23.8 percent).

Supervision rate in East Germany far higher
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the care of children under the age of one year played a rather minor role. „Here, the attendance rate in East Germany (including Berlin) was 4.3 percent and in West Germany 2.5 percent“, so the official message. However, the rate increases significantly from the age of one year. In the case of one-year-olds, 75 out of 77 East German districts and independent cities had a care rate of at least 50 percent. Only Heidelberg (57.7 percent), Hamburg (51.7 percent) and Erlangen (50.8 percent) have achieved this in the West. „The nationwide highest rate of 1-year-old children was the district of Jerichower Land with 85.3 percent“, reports the Federal Statistical Office.

Legal claim to a childcare place
The introduction of the legal entitlement to a childcare place seems, according to the latest figures of the Federal Statistical Office, to bear the desired fruit, and not least the creation of numerous new places by the towns and communities should have played a significant role here. However, it is not clear from the statistics how many parents would have liked to have their child in a care, but got no place. For on the paper, the legal claim is indeed given and in court, parents may also make their claim with appropriate lawsuits. But in practice, many parents still find no suitable childcare place. The path of the lawsuit, however, so far only a few. (Fp)

Picture: wolla2