Employment
Unpaid Childcare
Unpaid childcare records whether people aged 15 years and over spent time looking after a child without pay, including their own children and other people's children. It reflects the role of parents, grandparents, extended family, and community networks in caring for children.
Related topics
About this topic
Unpaid childcare records whether people aged 15 years and over spent time looking after a child without pay, including their own children and other people's children. It reflects the role of parents, grandparents, extended family, and community networks in caring for children.
This topic helps show how childcare is supported outside the paid care sector and can highlight the role of family-based care. It is best interpreted with household type, employment, and income, because unpaid childcare patterns are shaped by family structure, work arrangements, and access to formal childcare.
Interpretation notes
- This records unpaid childcare in the previous two weeks for people aged 15 years and over, including care for a person's own children and other children.
- It identifies whether childcare was provided, not the number of hours or whether care was regular, occasional, or shared with formal services.
Key insight
In 2021, not providing unpaid child care was the most common response among residents aged 15 and over in Unincorporated Vic, accounting for 62.4% (542 people). This share was lower than Regional Vic. (67.1%). Since 2016, the biggest change was in not providing unpaid child care, which increased by 151 people and 10 percentage points.
Section overview
Unpaid childcare
Unincorporated Vic - Persons aged 15+ (Usual residence)
This table summarises unpaid childcare for Unincorporated Vic in 2021 for persons, with comparison against Regional Vic. and change since 2016.
Chart view
Unpaid childcare snapshot
2021 distribution by category for Unincorporated Vic, with comparison markers for Regional Vic..
Provided Unpaid Child Care (All)
Cared For Own Child Ren
Cared For Other Child Ren
Cared For Own Child Ren And Other Child Ren
No Unpaid Child Care Provided
Not Stated
Unpaid childcare change
Absolute change in category counts between 2016 and 2021.
Provided Unpaid Child Care (All)
-53
-8.6pp
Cared For Own Child Ren
-28
-5.0pp
Cared For Other Child Ren
-27
-3.8pp
Cared For Own Child Ren And Other Child Ren
+5
+0.6pp
No Unpaid Child Care Provided
+151
+10.0pp
Not Stated
+25
-1.2pp
Data table
Unpaid Childcare for Unincorporated Vic. Unpaid childcare. 2021 and 2016 counts, percentages, and change compared with Regional Vic..
| Category | 2021 | 2016 | Change | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Regional Vic.% | Count | % | Regional Vic.% | Count | pp | |
| Provided Unpaid Child Care (All) | 80 | 9.2% | 25.6% | 133 | 17.8% | 27.2% | -53 | -8.6pp |
| Cared For Own Child Ren | 63 | 7.2% | 18.3% | 91 | 12.2% | 18.4% | -28 | -5.0pp |
| Cared For Other Child Ren | 12 | 1.4% | 6.6% | 39 | 5.2% | 7.9% | -27 | -3.8pp |
| Cared For Own Child Ren And Other Child Ren | 5 | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0 | 0.0% | 0.9% | +5 | +0.6pp |
| No Unpaid Child Care Provided | 542 | 62.4% | 67.1% | 391 | 52.4% | 63.0% | +151 | +10.0pp |
| Not Stated | 243 | 28.0% | 7.3% | 218 | 29.2% | 9.8% | +25 | -1.2pp |
| Total | 869 | 100.0% | 100.0% | 746 | 100.0% | 100.0% | +123 | 0.0pp |