Statistikk innhold
Statistics on
Kindergartens
The purpose of the statistics is to provide information about the status of kindergartens and employees in kindergartens. Information reported by the kindergartens also forms background for state subsidies payments, as well as supervisions according to the Day Care Institutions Act and other regulations.
Selected figures from the statistics
- Main figures - KindergartensDownload table as ...Main figures - Kindergartens
2024 Difference from last year Difference last 5 years Number of children in kindergarten 266 014 -902 -9 790 Percentage of children 1-5 years 94.4 0.5 2.2 Percentage of children 1-2 years 89.4 0.8 5.1 Percentage of children 3-5 years 97.4 0.2 0.4 Number of kindergartens 5 222 -92 -508 Percentage of public kindergartens 49 0 2 Employees 97 457 1 865 713 Percentage of directors and educational leaders with pre-school teacher education 91.6 -0.2 -0.4 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Number of kindergartens, employees and children, by county.Download table as ...Number of kindergartens, employees and children, by county.
Kindergartens Public kindergartens Private kindergartens Employees, total Children in kindergartens Percentage of children age 1-5 year in kindergarden 2022 5 420 2 618 2 802 95 706 268 730 93.4 2023 5 314 2 597 2 717 95 592 266 916 93.8 2024 5 222 2 574 2 648 97 457 266 014 94.4 2024 Østfold 250 84 166 5 046 13 772 92.5 Akershus 673 273 400 13 553 37 951 93.7 Oslo 659 303 356 11 974 35 002 93.1 Innlandet 332 187 145 5 904 15 662 94.5 Buskerud 236 105 131 4 624 12 136 93.3 Vestfold 207 97 110 4 180 11 413 93.8 Telemark 157 95 62 2 968 7 795 94.9 Agder 317 120 197 5 923 15 272 93.4 Rogaland 432 221 211 9 543 26 555 93.9 Vestland 610 317 293 11 729 32 445 96.0 Møre og Romsdal 259 135 124 4 889 13 048 96.2 Trøndelag - Trööndelage 505 285 220 8 785 23 257 96.3 Nordland - Nordlánnda 293 160 133 4 090 10 707 94.8 Troms - Romsa - Tromssa 198 124 74 2 953 7 557 95.4 Finnmark - Finnmárku - Finmarkku 92 66 26 1 266 3 358 93.4 Svalbard 2 2 0 30 84 . Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Children in kindergartens by age.Download table as ...Children in kindergartens by age.
Total 0 years 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years 2016 282 649 2 366 43 015 55 910 58 306 60 999 61 708 345 2017 281 622 2 245 43 300 56 177 58 558 59 482 61 530 330 2018 278 578 2 196 42 150 56 264 58 436 59 303 59 836 393 2019 275 804 2 295 41 921 54 153 58 411 59 078 59 580 366 2020 272 264 2 285 42 319 52 810 56 004 59 066 59 390 390 2021 268 465 2 608 42 457 52 590 54 508 56 623 59 309 370 2022 268 730 2 392 46 506 51 893 54 666 55 561 57 367 345 2023 266 916 2 502 43 345 55 151 53 664 55 557 56 355 342 2024 266 014 2 991 44 271 50 969 56 821 54 426 56 178 358 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Children in kindergartens by hours of attendance per week and different age groupsDownload table as ...Children in kindergartens by hours of attendance per week and different age groups
2024 Total 0-32 hours 33-40 hours per week 41 hours and over per week Percentage in different age groups All age groups 266 014 1 304 2 666 262 044 0 year 2 991 26 24 2 941 5.5 1 year 44 271 353 475 43 443 83.5 2 year 50 969 293 528 50 148 95.3 3 year 56 821 241 544 56 036 97.1 4 year 54 426 189 542 53 695 97.4 5 year 56 178 201 550 55 427 97.7 6 year 358 1 3 354 0-5 years 265 656 1 303 2 663 261 690 79.9 1-5 years 262 665 1 277 2 639 258 749 94.4 1-2 years 95 240 646 1 003 93 591 89.4 3-5 years 167 425 631 1 636 165 158 97.4 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Persons employed and man-years by employment position in kindergartens.Download table as ...Persons employed and man-years by employment position in kindergartens.
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 All positions Employees 97 457 95 592 95 706 95 201 95 909 Man-years 77 371 78 224 78 115 77 447 77 700 Directors Employees 6 186 5 730 5 743 5 851 5 980 Man-years 4 629 4 636 4 648 4 704 4 739 Educational leaders Employees 31 476 31 179 31 387 31 323 31 538 Man-years 28 865 29 122 29 277 29 179 29 370 Bilingual assistants Employees 1 174 855 779 927 1 035 Man-years 383 332 267 286 317 Other primary functions Employees 40 323 40 146 40 225 39 829 40 325 Man-years 35 069 35 316 35 230 34 748 35 023 Other educational personnel Employees 9 888 9 412 9 260 8 922 8 487 Man-years 5 609 5 790 5 658 5 443 5 119 Office staff Employees 1 361 1 165 1 152 1 166 1 213 Man-years 357 355 367 379 399 Other paid help Employees 7 049 7 113 7 180 7 189 7 334 Man-years 2 459 2 677 2 684 2 708 2 735 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Persons employed in kindergartens, by employment position and sexDownload table as ...Persons employed in kindergartens, by employment position and sex
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 Total number of persons employed 97 457 95 592 95 706 95 201 95 909 Females 84 505 83 533 83 899 83 524 84 388 Males 12 952 12 059 11 807 11 677 11 521 Directors 6 186 5 730 5 743 5 851 5 980 Females 5 597 5 125 5 161 5 283 5 418 Males 589 605 582 568 562 Educational leaders 31 476 31 179 31 387 31 323 31 538 Females 28 095 27 937 28 194 28 154 28 461 Males 3 381 3 242 3 193 3 169 3 077 Other primary functions 40 323 40 146 40 225 39 829 40 325 Females 35 842 35 933 36 088 35 801 36 306 Males 4 481 4 213 4 137 4 028 4 019 Bilingual assistants 1 174 855 779 927 1 035 Females 1 094 793 728 861 943 Males 80 62 51 66 92 Other educational personal 9 888 9 412 9 260 8 922 8 487 Females 9 040 8 714 8 578 8 286 7 947 Males 848 698 682 636 540 Office staff 1 361 1 165 1 152 1 166 1 213 Females 1 100 927 951 964 1 000 Males 261 238 201 202 213 Other paid help 7 049 7 113 7 180 7 189 7 334 Females 3 737 4 113 4 219 4 180 4 315 Males 3 312 3 000 2 961 3 009 3 019 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Persons employed in kindergartens, by position and qualificationsDownload table as ...Persons employed in kindergartens, by position and qualifications
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 Total number of persons employed 97 457 95 592 95 706 95 201 95 909 Directors 6 186 5 730 5 743 5 851 5 980 with pre-school teatcher education 5 802 5 108 5 186 5 255 5 378 with other college education that gives qualifications for working with children 341 588 527 553 562 with vocational training 5 0 4 4 6 Educational leaders 31 476 31 179 31 387 31 323 31 538 with pre-school teatcher education 28 329 27 773 28 315 28 431 28 365 with other college education that gives qualifications for working with children 605 944 822 928 905 with vocational training 1 064 1 037 896 647 736 Other primary functions 40 323 40 146 40 225 39 829 40 325 with pre-school teatcher education 203 316 330 297 with other college education that gives qualifications for working with children 920 897 944 852 other college education 1 156 1 122 1 079 1 101 skilled worker training 18 637 18 520 18 654 18 646 other background 19 403 19 291 19 218 18 933 Bilingual assistants 1 174 855 779 927 1 035 with pre-school teatcher education 332 217 178 207 203 with other college education that gives qualifications for working with children 14 21 11 8 6 with vocational training 160 106 108 120 135 Other educational personal 9 888 9 412 9 260 8 922 8 487 with pre-school teatcher education 2 578 2 399 2 402 2 431 2 271 with other college education that gives qualifications for working with children 129 146 140 135 138 with vocational training 1 702 1 512 1 469 1 453 1 360 Office staff 1 361 1 165 1 152 1 166 1 213 Other paid help 7 049 7 113 7 180 7 189 7 334 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 4 March 2025.
A kindergarten is an approved educational establishment organized for children below the age of compulsory education, according to the Kindergarten Act.
Ordinary kindergarten
A kindergarten in approved premises with an outdoor area specially designed for kindergarten activities.
Family kindergarten/family day-care center
A kindergarten that organizes its activities in a private home. In family kindergartens, pedagogical guidance must be given to the assistant during the family kindergarten's opening hours. The educational guidance must be given by a qualified kindergarten teacher. Amendment act on family day-care center regulates the operation of this type of kindergarten.
Open kindergartens do not have a set group of children. They are open to children accompanied by parents for playing and social gathering. The estimated number of children attending open kindergartens refers to the number of children who can visit the kindergarten at the same time. From 1999 and onwards, the number of children in open kindergartens is not included in the total number of children in kindergartens. Hence the number of children is not directly comparable before and after the change in 1999.
Mixed kindergarten
A kindergarten that is a combination of an ordinary kindergarten and a family day-care center. As of 2024 it is no longer possible to report on mixed kindergartens.
Public kindergartens
Kindergartens owned by the municipality, county municipality, or the state.
Private kindergartens
Kindergartens owned by private individuals, organizations or companies, either with municipal grants or without.
Non-municipal kindergartens
Kindergartens not owned by the municipality, i.e. state, county, and private kindergartens.
Part-time attendance
Number of children with an agreed attendance hours within the categories of 0-8 hours, 9-16 hours, 17-24 hours, 25-32 hours or 33-40 hours per week. As of 2024, the categories are 0-32 hours per week and 33-40 hours per week.
Full-time attendance
Number of children with an agreed length of stay of 41 hours or more per week.
Man-year refers to a full-time employee (37.5 hours per week) for a year.
Children in kindergarten are the actual number of children who have a place in kindergarten or who pay for a place in kindergarten as of 15 December.
Age of children is given as of year-end.
Attendance refers to agreed attendance, not actual attendance.
Children in open kindergartens are the number of children who can be present in kindergarten at the same time. Children in open kindergarten are stated according to the opening hours of the offer, either "6-15 hours per week" or "16 hours or more per week".
Coverage is the percentage of children in kindergarten relative to the total number of children in the corresponding cohorts.
Linguistic and cultural minorities are children with ethnic languages and cultural backgrounds other than Norwegian, Sami, Swedish, Danish and English, as of 15 December.
Counties are regional administrative units for both state and county municipal operations and are an important entity in SSB's statistical publishing. They correspond to NUTS 3 in Eurostat's statistical classification.
Name: Kindergartens
Topic: Education
Division for Education and Culture Statistics
The statistics are published on national, county and municipal level.
Annual reports as of 15 December. Final figures are published in the beginning of March. In addition, KOSTRA preliminary figures are published 15 March and final figures are published 15 June.
Some data are delivered to OECD, UNESCO and Eurostat.
All statistics about kindergartens at Statistics Norway is stored in a proper, standardized manner in consultation with the Data Inspectorate. Primary data and information on sample units are stored temporarily in the programming language SAS, and stored permanently as text-files.
Kindergarten statistics were first collected in 1963, and have been developed since then. The purpose of the statistics is to provide information about the status of kindergartens, number of children attending kindergartens and employees in kindergartens. Information reported by the kindergartens also forms background for state subsidies payments, and supervisions according to the Day Care Institutions Act and other regulations.
Important users of the kindergarten statistics are the Ministry of Education and Research, municipal authorities, county governors, researchers and media.
No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on www.ssb.no at 08.00 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.
The statistics are related to other statistics in Statistics Norway, such as KOSTRA, Accounts for private kindergartens, Households payments in kindergartens, Employees in kindergartens and schools and the national accounts. Statistics on kindergartens are presented both as preliminary KOSTRA key figures in mid-March, final KOSTRA key figures in mid-June, and as final kindergarten statistics in March.
In addition, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet) also publishes statistics in the field of kindergartens.
The information is collected by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (UDIR) under the authority of the Day Care Institutions Act, § 48. Statistics Norway uses the reports to produce official statistics under the authority of the Statistics Act of 21 June 2019 No. 32 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway § 10.
Not relevant.
The statistics include all approved kindergartens of any form of ownership; municipal, county, state and private owned kindergartens. Information about children in kindergarten, institutions, persons employed and man-years worked is some of the data that is collected.
Some of the information that is collected is age, attendance per week in ordinary kindergartens, family day-care centres and number of children attending open kindergartens. The statistics also include the number of children relative to the number of employees/man-years and the percentage of children in kindergarten relative to the total number of children in the corresponding cohorts.
Furthermore, data regarding the number of children that are allocated extra resources is collected.
Employees and man-years are distributed by category of employment position, education and ownership. Employees are also distributed by gender.
The statistics are based on data that is compiled electronically through BASILby the forms "Annual reports for kindergartens as of 15 December".
All approved kindergartens under the Day Care Institutions Act that receive subsidies are in the sample.
Data is collected from BASIL (BArnehage-Statistikk-InnrapporteringsLøsning) at the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet). Kindergartens report to BASIL, and each individual kindergarten fills out the electronic form. The annual reports for kindergartens are reported by 15 December, with a response deadline of four weeks.
The electronic forms have several checks active during the registration process. The information is also controlled and edited by the corresponding county governors and by Statistics Norway before data are aggregated and published. The controls are based on coherence between data and comparison to prior years.
Not relevant
The statistics are not published on institutional level.
The compulsory schooling in Norway was extended from 9 to 10 years in 1997, which meant that 6-year-olds were enrolled in primary schools instead of kindergartens. This shift means that some time series like percentage of children attending kindergartens will have a break.
The categories of levels of attendance hours were changed from 1999. This was done because of the introduction of cash benefits for parents with small children 1-3 years old that are not attending kindergarten full-time. The former five categories were substituted by six new categories. The definition of full-time attendance in kindergarten was changed from 32 week-hours and more to 33 week-hours and more.
The categories of levels of attendance hours were changed from 2024. There are now three categories: 0-32 hours per week, 33-40 hours per week and 41 hours or more per week.
Children in open kindergartens were reported separately from 1999. Earlier they were reported among children in other types of kindergartens. While the statistics prior to 1999 included children in open kindergartens, the shift that was made in 1999 has enabled Statistics Norway to separate between:
- The number of children in ordinary kindergartens (excluding children in open kindergartens, thus not directly comparable to earlier figures of total number of children in kindergartens)
- The number of children with an offer of admission in kindergartens (including children in open kindergartens, thus directly comparable to earlier figures of total number of children in kindergartens)
Due to changes in the collection of educational background that were introduced in 2016, the figures are not directly comparable with previous years.
The number of kindergartens refers to the number of annual reports received every year. Variations in number of kindergartens may also be due to organizational changes.
Errors may occur during completion of the forms in the kindergartens or by the municipal authorities. Most errors are discovered and corrected by manual or automatic controls, some errors may still occur.
This is a fullscale collection, and the response rate is equal to 100 per cent.
Contact
Relatert innhold
Analyses, articles and publications
Booklets: Key figures 2019 / 7 January 2021Facts about education in Norway 2021The Facts about education publication includes most of the figures on education in Norway – from kindergarten to university.
Artikkel / 9 May 2019Norway spends the most on the little onesThe annual costs per child in kindergarten is greater in Norway than in the other Nordic countries. Finland spends the least, but the OECD average is far less.