In some cities, child care is free, in others parents sometimes pay more than 1,000 euros per month. This emerges from an evaluation by the Institute of German Economics (IW) Cologne.
State regulations and fee schedules for 82 large cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants were considered. The study does not take into account the quality of daycare care, for example how many children a single teacher has to look after. Only recently, executives complained that unreliable child care in Germany was having negative consequences for Germany as a business location.