The childcare market - Italy

The child care market is mainly concerned with the care of children under the age of 3. The services offered, given the clear majority of a particular type of child care, can essentially fall into two macro-categories: - Traditional kindergartens, which account for the majority of services offered; - Other services, which represent a minority in the area (e.g., "spring section," "child and parent centers," "services in home settings"). The child care market has considerably more limited supply than the potential of demand. In fact, facilities represent a much smaller percentage of the number of children in Italy, falling short of the minimum standard set by the European Union of 33 percent. Among main challenges in the childcare sector in Italy, social and demographic transformations of the territory (e.g., reduction of birth rate, widening of the economic gap between regions) are believed to have a considerable impact on the evolution of the market. To date, the situation already does not appear to be the best, with a clear gap between the various regions of Italy and a very low number of children enrolled in child care services.