„The ECEC gap indicates the amount of time a child is not covered by either well-paid childcare leave or a guaranteed place in publicly subsidised ECEC. This is the period when families with young children have to make difficult decisions about whether to stay at home, whether to turn to informal care, or whether and how to pay for expensive, private ECEC. […] Only six Member States (Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden), along with Norway, have no ECEC gap.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe 2025 (2025), S. 56f.