Childcare
Share of children under 3 in day care (centres or publicly funded childminders), 1 March 2025
On 1 March 2025, 57.2% of children under three in the eastern states were in a day-care centre or with a childminder, 1.66 times the western rate of 34.5%; Berlin stood at 49.4%. Every eastern state is above every western state. 6 of 324 western districts have a higher rate than the lowest eastern district (Chemnitz, 47.2%). Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (60.5%) has the highest state rate, Bremen (31.3%) the lowest; across districts the rate ranges from 19.0% (Berchtesgadener Land) to 65.3% (Rostock city). In 2007 the eastern rate (41.0%) was 4.14 times the western one (9.9%).
Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·401 districts · 1 March 2025
Former West
34.5%
excl. Berlin
Former East
57.2%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
49.4%
Germany
37.8%
The East's figure is 1.7× the West's (1 March 2025).
By state
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern60.5%
- Sachsen-Anhalt59.2%
- Brandenburg58.7%
- Thüringen56.2%
- Sachsen54.3%
- Berlin49.4%
- Hamburg49.3%
- Schleswig-Holstein41.3%
- Niedersachsen36.5%
- Saarland35.6%
- Hessen35.3%
- Bayern33.8%
- Nordrhein-Westfalen33.4%
- Rheinland-Pfalz32.6%
- Baden-Württemberg32.1%
- Bremen31.3%
1 March 2025
Then and now
Drag across the map to compare 15 March 2007 with 1 March 2025. Both maps share one colour key.
Former West
9.9%
excl. Berlin
Former East
41.0%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
39.8%
Germany
15.5%
The East's figure is 4.1× the West's (15 March 2007).
Notes & caveats
- Children under three in day-care centres (Kindertageseinrichtungen) or in publicly funded childminding (Kindertagespflege) on the survey date, as a share of all children under three on 31 December of the previous year. Children counted in both forms of care are counted once.
- District, state and Germany quotas for 2025 are as published. East (without Berlin) and West are our calculation from the state counts and population; our state quotas reproduce the published ones to within 0.1 points.
- The 2007 values are our calculation with the same method (children in care on 15 March 2007 ÷ children under three on 31 December 2006). The 2006 population figures are based on the population update before the 2011 census; 2024 figures are based on the 2022 census.
- Since 1 August 2013 every child aged one and over has a legal right to a childcare place; take-up also depends on parents' choices and on the supply of places.
- Hanau (06415) became an independent city on 1 January 2026; in 2025 it is part of Main-Kinzig-Kreis (06435), whose value the map shows for both.
Show the table
| State | Side | 1 March 2025 | 15 March 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saarland | west | 35.6% | 12.1% |
| Berlin | berlin | 49.4% | 39.8% |
| Brandenburg | east | 58.7% | 43.4% |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | east | 60.5% | 44.1% |
| Sachsen | east | 54.3% | 34.6% |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | east | 59.2% | 51.8% |
| Thüringen | east | 56.2% | 37.5% |
| Schleswig-Holstein | west | 41.3% | 8.3% |
| Hamburg | west | 49.3% | 22.2% |
| Niedersachsen | west | 36.5% | 6.9% |
| Bremen | west | 31.3% | 10.6% |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | west | 33.4% | 6.9% |
| Hessen | west | 35.3% | 12.4% |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | west | 32.6% | 12.0% |
| Baden-Württemberg | west | 32.1% | 11.6% |
| Bayern | west | 33.8% | 10.8% |