待機児童、５４％減５６３４人　コロナ影響で利用控え―厚労省

　厚生労働省は２７日、認可保育所などに入所できない待機児童が、４月１日時点で前年比６８０５人（５４．７％）減の５６３４人だったと発表した。減少は４年連続で、過去最少を更新。保育の受け皿確保が進んだことに加え、新型コロナウイルス感染拡大に伴う保護者の利用控えで申込者数が１９９４年の調査開始以来、初めて減少したことなどが影響した。
　認可保育所や認定こども園など保育の受け皿は今年４月時点で前年から約５万８０００人分増やし、約３１９万４０００人分を確保。これに対し、同月時点の申込者数は、前年比約１万４０００人減の約２８２万８０００人だった。
　地域別では、全国１７４１市区町村のうち１４２９市区町村で待機児童がゼロに。待機児童の約６割が首都圏など都市部に集中しているが、１００人以上いる自治体は、昨年の２２から４に激減した。
　厚労省は、待機児童が前年から１０人以上減った１８０自治体にアンケート調査を実施。減少の要因について４３．３％が「申込者数が想定を下回った」と答え、このうち７４．０％が「園でのコロナ感染を懸念して利用を控える保護者の増加」を挙げた。同省は「コロナによる影響もある」と分析する。（2021/08/27-09:58）

The number of children on nursery waiting lists in Japan as of April 1 fell by 6,805, or 54.7 pct, from a year before to a record low of 5,634, down for the fourth straight year, a welfare ministry survey showed Friday.
   The decline reflected an increase in the nursery capacity and a decrease in nursery users amid the novel coronavirus crisis. The number of applications for nursery use dropped for the first time since the survey began in 1994.
   As of April, the maximum number of children that authorized nurseries and other facilities for preschoolers, such as "kodomoen" kindergarten-nursery hybrids, can accept was up by 58,000 from a year before to roughly 3,194,000. The number of applicants as of the same month dropped by 14,000 to about 2,828,000.
   No children were on the nursery waiting lists in 1,429 of Japan's 1,741 municipalities at the beginning of April this year. While about 60 pct of the children on the lists are in the Tokyo metropolitan area and other densely populated regions, the number of municipalities with 100 or more children on the lists fell from 22 to four.
   The ministry conducted a survey with 180 municipalities where the number of children on the waiting lists declined by 10 or more. Asked about reasons for the drops, 43.3 pct said that the number of applicants was fewer than expected. Of them, 74.0 pct said that a growing number of parents avoided sending their children to nurseries out of concern about coronavirus infection.