DJI Childcare Study (KiBS) 2024-2026
The next project phase for KiBS will begin in the period from January 2024 to December 2026. As part of the study, the German Youth Institute has been collecting representative data on the care of children from the age of one to the end of primary school every year since 2016. KiBS is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). The data collected is used to produce regular indicator-based reports on the development of parental childcare needs and the childcare arrangements used. The reporting relates to three age groups of children: Children under the age of three (U3), children aged from three years to school entry (U6) and primary school children up to the fourth grade or up to a maximum of ten years (GS).
In the course of the annual survey, KiBS primarily collects data for the core indicators to be reported in the trend comparison, which focus on the childcare needs of parents for their children. This indicator makes it possible to make a needs-oriented assessment of the further expansion of places that is required. As the KiBS data has shown for years, parental need varies greatly across different regions, time and families with different characteristics, which is why regular, precise monitoring is necessary in order to be able to steer expansion efforts in a targeted manner. In addition, the study repeatedly picks up on current political and social discourse and thus supplements the survey program with changing focus topics such as the reliability of childcare or flexibility in booking services.
- Parents' childcare needs: To what extent and in what form do parents want services for their children? How do parents' needs change over the years, for example due to the introduction of a new legal entitlement?
- Use of childcare services: To what extent do parents use extra-familial services? Which people or institutions are involved in a child's care arrangement? What regional aspects and differences are there in the use of childcare?
- Fit of the services: How well are parents' needs met by existing provision? Where is there a lack of fit in the provision? Is there a need for extended childcare hours?
- Parents' assessment of the services: How satisfied are parents with the services they use? Where do they see room for improvement?
- Reliability of childcare: How reliable are the childcare services? How is the childcare situation changing, for example due to shorter opening hours as a result of the shortage of skilled workers?
- How do parents cope with difficulties in caring for their children, for example during vacation periods or at institutional transitions?
- Non-utilization: Which parents do not use childcare services? Why do parents opt for purely private care for their child?
KiBS is an annual, representative survey of parents with children up to the end of the fourth grade of primary school. In order to ensure representativeness, the sample is drawn in a multi-stage process. In a first step, the municipalities are selected according to a regional key. In the second step, the children within the municipalities are drawn from the population registers. Children under the age of one are drawn annually in order to include the youngest age group in the sample. For the older age groups, the sample is made up of approximately half repeat respondents (panel cases) and half first-time respondents (refreshers).
The interviews are conducted as proxy interviews with the child's main caring parent. In 2023, this was the mother of the target child in around 81% of cases. Around a quarter of the interviews are conducted by telephone (CATI) (interview time: between 20 and 30 minutes). The remaining respondents are reached via an online questionnaire (CAWI) or can complete a paper questionnaire.
After data collection, disproportionalities in the sample are corrected by means of adjustment weighting. For this purpose, the survey data is adjusted to official data on care as well as the federal state and age distribution. Depending on the age group, this is done using different key figures from the official statistics. This procedure enables representative statements to be made about childcare requirements.
The KiBS data is analyzed descriptively and/or multivariate, depending on the question and topic.
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