‘Worse health, lower life satisfaction, and higher crime rates later in life’ was reported in November to be the legacy of childcare in Quebec, Canada.
The Quebec universal childcare system is the largest programme of its kind in North America. According to research undertaken by the economist Pierre Fortin, it has helped expand the provincial economy, increased employment rates and women’s participation in the workforce, and boosted the flow of taxes into both the provincial and federal coffers.1
Longitudinal study
However, new findings from a longitudinal study have sent out a warning to both the Canadian government, and to governments throughout the Western world, that such results have been achieved at a cost to children. The study, led by researchers from three North American universities, found that children with increased childcare access ‘subsequently had worse health, lower life satisfaction, and higher crime rates later in life’. While boys were more likely to show higher levels of hyperactivity and aggression, girls were marked by a decline in prosocial behaviour.2
