Financing Early Childhood Care and Education: An International Review

This paper provides an international review of financing systems for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) across different countries. Drawing on published academic and policy literature, the review sets out a typology of financing systems for ECCE with regard to: funding sources (who provides the money for ECCE); financing mechanisms (how money for ECCE is allocated); amounts of funding (how much money is available for each child). We apply this typology to describe ECCE provision internationally. Most countries organize some public funding for early childhood education, but the amounts vary both absolutely and relative to what parents pay, as do the financing mechanisms.