South Korean families seeking day care for 18-month-olds faced an average 8.5-month wait as of June, a delay a lawmaker's report said may complicate parents' return to work.
The wait figure comes from Ministry of Education data obtained by Rep. Seo Beom-soo, a member of the People Power Party. The Korea Herald reported the findings on Oct. 20.
Seo's separate report counted 11,093 day care center closures from 2022 through the first half of 2026. Annual closures fell from 3,041 in 2022 to 1,939 in 2025, while another 1,194 centers closed in the first six months of 2026.
Home-based and privately run centers accounted for 92.2% of the closures. In Seo's report, 43.9% of centers that closed cited fewer children, while 31.3% cited financial difficulties.
Korean Statistical Information Service figures put the number of centers at 26,064 in 2025, down from a peak of 43,770 in 2013. The nationwide count declined for 12 consecutive years through 2025, although the number of public centers rose between 2023 and 2025.
For families seeking a public-center place for an 18-month-old, the average wait was 10.6 months, compared with 7.9 months in 2022. Across all centers, the wait for that age group rose from 5.8 months to 8.5 months over the same period.
Across all ages, the average wait reached 7.5 months, up from 5.3 months in 2022. It stood at 6.2 months for six-month-olds and eight months for 30-month-olds; the latter group's average was 5.8 months in 2022.
The figures measure the period between submitting an application and receiving confirmation of admission. Seo's report said long waits for children ages 0 to 2 may make it harder for parents to resume work after parental leave.
Seo called for officials to assess demand by age and region and develop measures to shorten waits for the youngest children.
