A study has found that while Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia and Portugal offer the best family-friendly policies, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, the United Kingdom and Ireland are among the worst.
UNICEF ranked 41 countries from across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the EU, based on four indicators: paid leave available to mothers; paid leave reserved for fathers; the percentage of childcare enrolment under three; and childcare enrolment between 3 and school age.
According to data from 29 of the 41 countries, UK parents were the most likely to cite cost as the reason for not using formal childcare settings more often.
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