Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to select vulnerable regions with insufficient child care services based on an in-depth investigation of diverse regional characteristics and to establish a practical goal for the expansion of public child care centers through identifying priority regions in foremost need of public child care centers out of the vulnerable regions. The vulnerable regions were selected from both urban and rural areas with particular criterions to determine their critical situation. First of all, the number of children aged zero to five, private and public child care centers, and capacity and enrolment of the regional child care center were selected from towns (Eup) and townships (Myeon) within rural areas and neighborhoods (Dong) within urban areas to calculate the capacity fulfillment. Specifically, a dense population of low-income families inhabited within urban areas defined the region's vulnerable status for the analysis, whereas poor accessibility of a child care center within rural areas correspond to the lack of child care services. The analytical result displayed that a total of 456 towns and townships did not acquire child care centers. Out of 456 towns and townships, 162 were selected as priority regions. On the other hand, 546 neighborhoods corresponding to upper 30 percentiles of urban area where children receive basic subsidy for low income families were selected as vulnerable regions. Out of 546 neighborhoods, 243 were selected as priority regions according to the analytical result.