Nursery Enrolment in Finland Reaches Record Levels
Families in Finland are undergoing a notable shift in their childcare preferences. Once a common choice in the 1980s, home-based family daycare is rapidly fading, while nurseries and early childhood education centres are seeing unprecedented demand.
According to data from Statistics Finland, in 2024, 80 per cent of children aged between one and six participated in early childhood education. However, only 3 per cent were cared for in small, home-based groups.
In Finland, children usually start school at the age of seven, but before that they are entitled to compulsory and free pre-primary education. Since 2015, this stage has been mandatory for all children, with participation rates peaking among five- and six-year-olds. More than 85 per cent of six-year-olds now attend nursery, and the rate rises to 93 per cent among five-year-olds.
The popularity of home-based childcare has, by contrast, declined dramatically. In 1989, some 92,000 children were enrolled in family daycare, but last year the number registered under municipal supervision fell to around 7,000.
Participation in early childhood education has also become more diverse, not only in numbers but demographically. In 2024, 14 per cent of enrolled children spoke a mother tongue other than Finnish, Swedish, or the indigenous Sámi languages. The most common languages among these were Russian, Arabic, Somali, Ukrainian, English, and Estonian.