Toronto/IBNS: A new report by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) is focusing on Canada’s lack of child-care spaces and how it’s affecting nearly 50 percent of younger children.

According to the report, released on Tuesday, out 1.97 million children in Canada under the age of eligibility to enter kindergarten, 946,000 are living in child-care deserts without adequate access to child care irrespective of fees.

Of the 759,000 full-time licensed child-spaces in the country, the CCPA estimates that roughly 48 percent have challenges to access licensed child-spaces 

Among the most impacted provinces, 92 percent of Saskatchewan’s younger children are living in child-care deserts, followed by 79 percent in Newfoundland and 76 percent in British Columbia.

While Prince Edward Island only had one child-care desert in the whole province, the least in Canada with four percent of younger children struggling to access care.

According to the report, eleven percent of Quebec’s younger, and 29 percent of New Brunswick children are living in child-care deserts.

The report also found that it’s most often rural areas that are more likely to have child-care deserts in comparison to urban areas with a population of over 100,000 people.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)