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| % of children aged 0-12 | ||
| Types of Childcare Used | 2007 | 2016 |
| Parent / Partner | 75 | 70 |
| Unpaid relative or family friend | 9 | 16 |
| Paid relative or family friend | 3 | 3 |
| Childminder / Au Pair / Nanny | 9 | 10 |
| Creche / Montessori / Playgroup / After-school facility | 9 | 13 |
| Other | 1 | 1 |
| Total children using non-parental childcare | 30 | 38 |
There has been a fall in the number of children using parental childcare between the years 2007 and 2016. The decrease is larger among primary school children (from 81% to 74%) than among pre-school children (from 64% to 62%). See Table 1 and Figure 1.
Some 88% of pre-school children use a single type of childcare, with 12% using more than one. In 2007, the corresponding figures were 93% and 7% respectively. A single type of childcare is used by 91% of primary school children, while more than one is used by 9% of primary school children. The corresponding figures for 2007 were 98% (one type of childcare) and 2% (more than one type of childcare). See table 2.
The percentage of pre-school children that are minded by their parent is 62%. The corresponding figure for primary school children is 74%. The most commonly used non-parental childcare type for pre-school children is a crèche/Montessori/playgroup/after-school facility. This type of care is used by 19% of pre-school children, with the highest rate of use in Dublin (25%). The most commonly used type of non-parental childcare for primary school children nationally is an unpaid relative or family friend (16%). The highest rate is in the Border region (21%). See table 3.