Early child care, how much does it cost the family? The price, almost a third of the average salary in the country
Childcare has become a top priority for every parent. After the 2000s, with the massive entry of women into the labor market, their role was no longer limited to the family, but also expanded in economic terms. This change brought a significant increase in the need for public and private daycare centers, as childcare was no longer the exclusive responsibility of the mother.
But how much does this service cost for families and young couples in our country?
According to data from the Municipality of Tirana, the costs of keeping a child in a state-run daycare center are at a rate of 130 lek per day, resulting in a monthly cost of around 3 thousand lek, depending on the number of working days or weekends included in the month. On the other hand, according to official data, the guarantee fund for daycare centers amounts to a cost of around 5 thousand lek. These state costs can be considered affordable, but since weekends are holidays and daycare hours are official, parents who have shift work or no weekends off are often forced to seek private service, which is more flexible, but also significantly more expensive.
According to a field study conducted by “Scan Intel” for the city of Tirana, the costs of private daycare centers vary significantly, with the lowest fee averaging around 15 thousand lek, while the highest reaching around 45 thousand lek. However, a large part of private daycare centers offer services at an average cost of 24-28 thousand lek per month. These prices depend on the additional services that each daycare center offers, the quality of the staff, the infrastructure, and also the length of time that the child stays in its facilities.
A simple analysis shows that a parent earning a minimum wage would have to spend more than half of their monthly income to cover the cost of private daycare, while a parent earning an average wage spends about a third of their monthly income on this service. For many families, the cost of private daycare can be comparable to the monthly rent of an apartment in one of Tirana's suburban neighborhoods, which makes the situation even more difficult financially.
In a regional comparison, according to data from Numbeo, the average price of private daycare in Albania is around $258 per month, ranking our country fourth in the region for this service. Serbia leads with a cost of around $364, followed by Montenegro with $318 and North Macedonia with a price slightly higher than Albania. On the other hand, this service is offered cheaper in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, where the rates are $191 and $173 respectively.
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