Nearly one million children are in approved centres nationwide, a federal government report has found.
The latest Child Care Update, released yesterday, shows more than 700,000 families are accessing childcare services in 15,000 centres.
There was also an increase of 22,400 children receiving childcare in the year to June 2012, compared to the previous year.
The increase means the number of children in childcare is at an all-time high with a quarter of all Australian children aged up to 12 years are now using the services.
"What we're seeing is more children accessing childcare in more services than ever before in our nation's history," Early Childhood and Child Care Minister Kate Ellis said.
"We're creating a more flexible, affordable, accessible childcare system with higher quality standards and families around Australia are rightly taking advantage."
But Ms Ellis said there were still problems around childcare availability, with many parents unable to find a centre to take their kids.
“We know there are still many families who can afford childcare but simply cannot find any centres that can take their children,” she said.
“The Australian Government has done a lot of work in this area but it also needs attention from other levels of government.
“For instance there continues to be huge barriers to child care services establishing new sites, particularly planning restrictions, and I’m very keen to work on this as a matter or priority with all tiers of government to make more child care places available where they are needed.”
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