Households’ payments in kindergartens, rates of change, 15 August 2004, January

In total from January to August households' payments in public and private kindergartens fell by 3.5 per cent. From August 2003 to August 2004 the reduction in private and public kindergartens fees was 14.7 and 3.7 per cent respectively. The decline is due to increased kindergarten subsidies from 1 August 2003. A larger increase in subsidies for private kindergartens than for public kindergartens, approximately 33 and 19 per cent respectively, explains the substantial cuts in private kindergarten fees. Most of the public kindergartens in the survey have per August 2004 reduced their payments due to the regulation on households' payments in kindergarten introduced 1 May 2004. So has the private kindergartens, but in a smaller scale.

Change from January to August - largest decline in private kindergartens

Households' payments in public kindergartens went down by 2.5 per cent from January to August. The largest decrease occurred in Trøndelag and Western Norway, with a decline of 6.1 and 4.6 per cent respectively. Hedmark and Oppland and South Eastern Norway recorded an increase in the same period.

In total, payments in private kindergartens fell by 5.0 per cent from January to August. The fees went down in most of the regions.

Year-to-year change: Regional differences

From August 2003 to August 2004 fees in public kindergartens have declined by 3.7 per cent. There has been a decline in all regions the last 12 months. The largest decline was in Trøndelag with a fall of 8.5 per cent. Oslo and Akershus had the weakest decrease in the payments of 0.3 per cent.

Fees in the private kindergartens fell more than in the public kindergartens, with a decline of 14.7 per cent from August 2003 to August 2004. The decrease was larger in private than in public kindergartens in all regions.