The number of children in some form of daycare continues to rise as more women in the Netherlands go out to work, according to new social affairs ministry figures.

In the second three months of this year, 796,000 children spent part of their days in a creche or after school club, the cost of which was partly paid by the government through special child benefit.This is a rise of 17,000 on the first quarter of this year.

Of them, 330,000 babies and toddlers are cared for in daycare centres, 371,000 attended after school clubs and 118,000 are looked after by paid childminders.

This growth is matched by a rise in the number of women going out to work, the ministry said. In the second quarter of this year, 63% of women aged 15 to 74 had some form of job, a rise of 1.23 percentage points on the same period a year ago.