U.S. public funding on formal child care for children below the age of three lags far behind most of the developed world. The Figure, from EPI’s forthcoming State of Working America Web site, shows public spending on this kind of child care in 14 developed nations.

Comparisons between the United States and 13 other developed nations were made using purchasing power parity. Annual funding of $794 per child in the United States, compares with amounts more than twice as large in Australia and Belgium. Several other countries, from Japan, to the U.K. and Denmark spend more than three times as much on child care. 

EPI’s latest edition of The State of Working America (SWA) will be published online in January.