Household payments for kindergarten, 15 January 2003, January

Large variations in the kindergartens fees are found among the municipalities in the survey. The minimum fee for children aged 3 years or more with full-time care, varies between NOK 0 and 3,860. The dispersion in the maximum fee is on the other hand far smaller, and varies between NOK 2,190 and 4,720. The minimum and maximum fees are not related to a specific level of income as the levels vary between the municipalities. The higher level of income, the smaller the variation is between the municipalities due to the municipalities' payment system. Households with an income of NOK 250,000 on a yearly basis face kindergarten fees between NOK 1,129 and 3,860. The kindergarten fees for households with an income of NOK 500 000 vary between NOK 2,190 and

3,860.

On a national level the kindergarten fees for households with a gross income of NOK 250 000 are on average NOK 2,580. The average payments for households with income levels of NOK 375 000 and 500,000 are just above NOK 3,000. This is an increase of about 1 per cent from August 2002 for all the levels of income. From January 2002 to January 2003, however, the kindergarten fees have been reduced by 2 to 3 per cent. The difference between the average maximum fee and the payment for households with income of NOK 500,000 is relatively small. This is due to the fact that few of the municipalities in the survey use payment systems where the kindergarten fees vary according to levels of income above NOK 500,000.

Higher fees in private kindergartens than in public ones

The average payment in private kindergartens is NOK 3,325 on a national level. The fees have increased by 2.1 per cent compared with January 2002. Household payments in private kindergartens are on average higher compared with the fees in the public kindergartens for all three levels of income. The fees differ with more than NOK 200 for households with an income of NOK 500,000 and between NOK 700 and 800 for households with an income of NOK 250,000. The lower level of income, the larger the difference is between the fees in private and public kindergartens. These differences are mainly a result of a more extensive use of payment systems where fees vary according to the level of income in public kindergartens compared to private ones. Disaggregated to regions - the payments in private kindergartens vary between NOK 3,123 in the northern part of Norway and NOK 3,438 in the eastern part of Norway.

Methodical changes from the last survey

From this survey on weighted average payments for January 2003 and back to January 2002 are calculated, as opposed to previous surveys where the average fees are unweighted. This applies to both public and private kindergartens. The aggregated payments in this survey can therefore not directly be compared with kindergarten fees published earlier. In addition, the income level of NOK 100,000 is removed, and minimum and maximum fees are added from January 2003.