Day nurseries for children under three years of age
Crèches are a form of childcare for children under the age of three. These facilities are specially designed to cater for babies and very young children. There are both state and privately run crèches operating in all of Austria's provinces.
In some areas, crèches (Kinderkrippen) are known in German as Krabbelstuben or Kleinkinderbetreuungseinrichtungen.
These facilities are responsible for looking after the children entrusted to their care and for contributing to their education and upbringing. The ratio of children to carers/teachers is small, and there is a heavy emphasis on working together with parents.
The precise number of children in each group will depend on the children’s ages, but there is a maximum class size that must not be exceeded.
Fees for crèches may vary according to a number of factors, including:
- who the operator is,
- the parents' income (in some cases) and
- the number of hours the child spends at the crèche.
Parents are responsible for enrolling their children with a crèche, should they wish to do so. Parents can find full details of the procedure for enrolling children by contacting the crèche or the authority responsible for regulating it i.e. the local magistrate, local council office, church, charitable foundation, etc.). We recommend you enrol your child in a crèche as early as possible. You will usually need to provide certain documentation in order to enrol your child, for example their birth certificate, residency certificate (Meldezettel) or Austrian social security number.
You can find more information about crèches in your region on the pages below:
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