{
  "id": "child-care-spaces",
  "category": "Children and families",
  "title": "Licensed child-care spaces per 100 children, City of Victoria",
  "geography": "City of Victoria",
  "scope": "city",
  "levels": [
    "Provincial (child care funding and licensing)",
    "Municipal (land use and space)"
  ],
  "plain_question": "For every 100 children aged 12 and under living in the City, how many licensed child-care spaces are there?",
  "value": 46.6,
  "display_value": "46.6",
  "unit": "spaces per 100 children aged 0 to 12, 2024",
  "period": "Calendar year 2024 (licensing inventory, September 2024)",
  "period_start": "2024-09-01",
  "period_end": "2024-09-30",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "Calendar year 2022",
    "previous_value": 38.2,
    "change_percent": 22.0
  },
  "trend": "improving",
  "direction_good": "up",
  "right_direction": "More spaces per 100 children means more families can find licensed care.",
  "trend_basis": "46.6 spaces per 100 children in 2024, up from 38.2 in 2022 (City of Victoria, 2025 Child Care Needs Assessment Update). Under 3: 31.7. School age: 33.4. The City’s targets are 50 per 100 for children up to age 5 and 80 for school-age children.",
  "since_text": "Under 3: 31.7 per 100 (City target 50). School age: 33.4 (target 80).",
  "breakdown": [
    {
      "label": "Under 3 years",
      "display_value": "31.7 per 100",
      "period": "2024",
      "detail": "540 spaces for a projected 1,701 children. City target: 50 by 2030."
    },
    {
      "label": "3 to 4 years (to school age)",
      "display_value": "127.8 per 100",
      "period": "2024",
      "detail": "1,360 spaces for a projected 1,064 children. City target: 50 by 2030."
    },
    {
      "label": "School age (5 to 12)",
      "display_value": "33.4 per 100",
      "period": "2024",
      "detail": "1,552 spaces for a projected 4,643 children. City target: 80 by 2030."
    }
  ],
  "breakdown_title": "By age, 2024",
  "caveats": [
    "The City counts licensed spaces from Island Health’s licensing inventory (September 2024) and divides them by BC Stats’ projected number of children. Multi-age and family child-care spaces are split evenly across the three age groups, and the City calls the gaps rough estimates.",
    "The total counts every licensed space against every child aged 0 to 12. Because each age group needs its own kind of space, the age groups below matter more than the total.",
    "The City’s targets (50 per 100 for children up to 5, 80 per 100 for school age, by 2030) are set out in this assessment. This site has not found a separate Council resolution adopting them, so they are shown as related targets and not drawn as adopted ones.",
    "The City updates the assessment every few years; the next update date is not published."
  ],
  "charts": [],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 38.2
    },
    {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 46.6
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "Every few years (City child care needs assessment)",
  "source": {
    "name": "City of Victoria, 2025 Child Care Needs Assessment Update",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/child-care-needs-assessment-2025",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/child-care-needs-assessment-2025",
    "download_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/child-care-needs-assessment-2025",
    "locator": "2025 Child Care Needs Assessment Update, “Current Child-Care Access Rate” (page 34) and Table 2 (page 35)",
    "reads": "In 2024, the City of Victoria had a child-care access rate of 46.6 spaces per 100 children, up from 38.2 spaces per 100 children in 2022.",
    "page_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/child-care-needs-assessment-2025#page=34",
    "page": 34
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "In 2024, the City of Victoria had a child-care access rate of 46.6 spaces per 100 children, up from 38.2 spaces per 100 children in 2022.",
    "Total 7,408 3,453 46.6 46.6% (0-12 years old)",
    "City of Victoria Targets In comparison, the City of Victoria has set significant but lower access rates: • 50 per cent for non-school-age children (zero to five years old), including infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children • 80 per cent for school-age children"
  ],
  "data_published": "2025-10-06",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-13T05:22:33Z",
  "attribution": "Source: City of Victoria, 2025 Child Care Needs Assessment Update. Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "targets_text": {
    "under_6": 50,
    "school_age": 80,
    "by": "2030"
  },
  "licence_type": "public",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "service result",
  "better_measure": null,
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "The change is 22.0% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": {
      "period": "Calendar year 2022",
      "value": 38.2,
      "text": "vs 2022: +22.0%"
    },
    "five_year": null
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "outcome",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "better",
    "label": "Better",
    "arrow": "▲",
    "rel": 22.0,
    "delta": null,
    "vs": "Calendar year 2022",
    "cur": "Calendar year 2024 (licensing inventory, September 2024)",
    "why": "The change is 22.0% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "change": "22%",
    "one_year": "+22.0%",
    "long_why": "The only earlier figure (2022) is the one already compared, so there is no longer reading yet."
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 5,
    "rung_name": "No target found",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "related",
        "label": "Related target",
        "text": "Related targets, not drawn: the City’s 2025 Child Care Needs Assessment Update sets access rates of 50 spaces per 100 children up to age 5 and 80 per 100 school-age children by 2030. They are for age groups, not for the total shown here; each age group is in the table above. This site has not found a separate Council resolution adopting them.",
        "area": "City of Victoria",
        "source": {
          "title": "2025 Child Care Needs Assessment Update",
          "publisher": "City of Victoria",
          "date": "2025",
          "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/child-care-needs-assessment-2025",
          "terms": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
          "refresh": "Every few years",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "childcare2025",
          "page": 37
        },
        "documents_checked": null
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "rung": 2,
      "kind": "related",
      "label": "Related targets, not drawn: the City’s 2025 Child Care Needs Assessment Update sets access rates of 50 spaces per 100 children up to age 5 and 80 per 100 school-age children by 2030. They are for age groups, not for the total shown here; each age group is in the table above. This site has not found a separate Council resolution adopting them.",
      "short": null,
      "document": "childcare2025",
      "page": 37,
      "area": "City of Victoria",
      "fit": "text_only",
      "same_area": false,
      "related_reason": "Different unit, definition, period or area; written under the chart, not drawn.",
      "document_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/child-care-needs-assessment-2025",
      "applies_here": false,
      "same_measure": false
    }
  ],
  "highest_rung": null,
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "BC",
      "name": "Province of B.C.",
      "decides": "Funds child care through grants and agreements with child care operators.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "elcca3",
          "label": "Early Learning and Child Care Act, s. 3",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/21022#section3"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "COV",
      "name": "City of Victoria Council",
      "decides": "Decides zoning and development permits, and regulates building by bylaw.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "lga479",
          "label": "Local Government Act, s. 479",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14#section479"
        },
        {
          "key": "lga490",
          "label": "Local Government Act, s. 490",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14#section490"
        },
        {
          "key": "cc8l",
          "label": "Community Charter, s. 8 (3) (l)",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_02#section8"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "Province of B.C.",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "better",
    "label": "Better"
  },
  "label_long": null,
  "target_line": {
    "form": 5,
    "text": "Related target only",
    "target": null,
    "gap": null,
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": false,
    "note": null
  }
}