Daycare centers can help children from socially disadvantaged families get equal opportunities – if there are enough of them.

In poorer urban areas in Germany, parents often have fewer daycare places available for their children than in wealthier neighborhoods. This is the finding of a new study by the German Economic Institute (IW). "Early childhood education is scarcest where it is most urgently needed and most effective," the employer-friendly institute writes in its survey "Inequalities in Local Daycare Provision," which was obtained by the German Press Agency.

The researchers examined the daycare situation in more than 2,600 neighborhoods in 52 cities, for which local official data on family structures and residents' dependence on state benefits is available. The result: Although there has been an enormous expansion of daycare places since the legal right to a daycare place from the age of two was introduced in 2013, "supply has not been able to keep pace with the even stronger increase in demand." Parents of an estimated 300,000 children have recently searched in vain for a daycare place.

According to the IW researchers' findings, the search is most difficult in precisely those neighborhoods where children already have a harder time due to the parents' more difficult social circumstances. While there may be differing opinions within families about whether or not to send their child to daycare, the researchers primarily identify a "gap in provision": Socially precarious parents are less likely than well-off ones to fulfill their wish for daycare.

Specifically, the 20 percent of neighborhoods with the lowest rate of basic welfare recipients have around 16 percent better daycare provision than the respective city average. And the 20 percent with the most benefit recipients have around 5 percent fewer daycare centers, according to the study. "Sometimes, a socioeconomically well-off neighborhood has twice, three times, or even four times the daycare provision compared to a precarious one."

Within the same city, there are, on average, one-third more daycare centers per a given number of children in well-off neighborhoods than in economically precarious areas. However, there are also differences between cities, the researchers say. Heidelberg performs particularly well in their city ranking, with 61 children per accessible daycare center. At the bottom of this list are Gelsenkirchen and Krefeld, each with 166 children.

The researchers see fees as only one possible reason for parents' decision not to send their children to daycare. Ability and willingness to pay the fees vary, however. However, the researchers also point to the abolition of fees in many states and municipalities. Parents with lower social status and a migration background are also more likely to find it difficult to obtain complete information and secure one of the rare daycare spots.

The study identifies the main reason for the unequal distribution of daycare centers as "the fact that religious and private non-profit daycare centers are significantly more likely to be located in prosperous neighborhoods than in socially disadvantaged areas." In better-off neighborhoods, there has been a significant expansion of publicly subsidized daycare centers run by non-profit organizations.

But why aren't as many daycare centers built in poorer neighborhoods? "First, municipalities may prioritize the demand of socially advantaged families because these groups are better able to communicate their needs and expectations." Second, religious and non-profit organizations often make their own location decisions—and they now account for around two-thirds of daycare places.

In West Germany, cities partially counteracted the trend toward unequal distribution of daycare centers, according to the IW researchers – with municipal daycare centers. In East German cities, however, the trend toward inequality is particularly evident due to more daycare centers in better-off neighborhoods.

For the researchers, the unequal distribution of daycare places and thus educational opportunities is "fatal," as they write. This likely leads to the "reproduction of socioeconomic inequalities of opportunity"—in other words, social inequalities are increasing, not decreasing.

Study author Matthias Diermeier told the dpa: "The money invested in daycare centers is not reaching where it should be." Diermeier warns of a consolidation of inequality structures.

Just two years ago, the international PISA (Pisa International Student Assessment Program) study gave Germany a poor report card. The gaps in mathematics, reading, and science, it was stated at the time, were as great in Germany as in almost any other country. The effect of social background was particularly strong here. The IW now refers to this PISA study and calls for greater efforts to ensure that everyone can benefit from early childhood education as a foundation for their future careers.