Dimension: Net Childcare Cost
% of household income · two-earner couple, two children (ages 2–3), full-time centre-based care, net of taxes and benefits
Germany
<10%
gross fee confirmed at 1%; net not separately published
Italy
<10%
exact point not published
Greece
<10%
single parents: 0%, fully free
UK
≥18%
secondary source specifies 25%
US
≥18%
secondary source specifies 32%, highest in OECD
known ceiling only — primary source groups these countries as "below X%" without a published exact point; bar fades to signal the true value sits somewhere under the line
known floor only — primary source confirms "at least X%"; bar is solid to the confirmed floor, fades beyond it; a secondary source's more precise figure is noted but not plotted
Methodology seam: the underlying OECD methodology is now confirmed against the primary source (OECD Family Database, PF3.4) — "couple" means a two-earner family, first earner at 100% of average earnings, second at 67%, both full-time, two children aged 2–3. The primary document's own prose independently confirms three of five countries as a group, not individually: Germany, Italy, and Greece are named together as under-10% net cost (considerable state support keeps net cost low relative to gross fees); the UK and US are named together in the "at least 18%" high-cost group alongside Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. The one country-specific net-cost point in the primary source is Germany's gross fee at 1% — not the same measure as the panel's net-cost title, though plausibly close given gross is already low. None of the three secondary-sourced exact points (US 32%, UK 25%, Germany 1% net) could be independently re-verified against the primary chart, whose stacked-bar data didn't extract cleanly enough to confirm digit-to-country mapping. Bucket and direction: confirmed against primary source, all five countries. Exact points: still traced to a secondary compilation for all five.