Kindergartens, 2009, preliminary figures

There were 8 300 more children in kindergartens in 2009 compared with 2008. For children aged 1-2 years, there was an increase of 4 400 children, and for children aged 3-5 years there were nearly 3 800 more children. In these age-groups, there were 93 900 and 173 000 children respectively in kindergarten.

In 2009, the proportion of children aged 1-2 who attended kindergarten was 77 per cent; an increase of 2.5 percentage points from 2008. The percentage of places for small children varied from 69 per cent for children aged 1 and 86 per cent for children aged 2. For children aged 3-5, 96 per cent attended kindergartens.

At the end of 2009, almost 84 900 people were employed in kindergartens, and in total they worked 68 100 man-years. The proportion of directors and educational leaders with approved pre-school teacher education or other college education was 89 per cent.

Tables:

• Table 1 Kindergartens, children and employees by county. 2009
• Table 2 Children in kindergartens, by age and county. 2009
• Table 3 Children in kindergartens, by weekly attendance, ownership structure of kindergarten and county. 2009
• Table 4 Children in kindergartens, by hours of attendance per week and different age groups. 2009