Financing for equity in pre-primary education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to institutions
3. Education resources to students and families
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Introduction
Key financing indicators (UIS Data)
The official entrance age to pre-primary education is 3 (UIS 2023 estimates). The net enrolment rate for pre-primary for both sexes Is 97.16% (UIS 2023 estimates). No data is found regarding the number of years of free pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks and the number of years of compulsory pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks.
Governance
The financing of pre-primary education (kindergartens) is decentralised and integrated into the broader system of local government finance: municipalities are the main funding authorities, with parents paying regulated fees (within national rules). Policy responsibility for pre-primary education rests with the Ministry of Education and Research, while overall budgetary oversight is embedded within the national fiscal framework.
Tuition-free status
Pre-primary education is not guaranteed to be free by national frameworks.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
There is no dedicated or earmarked central-to-local transfer mechanism specifically for pre-primary education. Municipalities finance around 85% of total funding. The central government does not transfer funds explicitly labelled for pre-primary education. Instead, central funding reaches municipalities through the General Grant Scheme, consisting of non-earmarked block grants and shared tax revenues, which municipalities allocate across all local services, including pre-primary education, according to local priorities.
2. Education resources to institutions
Municipalities fund kindgartens. Rather than extra per-school grants, major equity tools are typically fee reductions and free hours targeted to lower-income families (see Section 3 for more details). According to the 2005 Kindergarten Act, the municipality may grant financial support to approved private kindergartens and must ensure that those receiving subsidies are treated on the same basis as municipal kindergartens.
3. Education resources to students and families
Norway has strengthened the affordability of kindergarten for low-income families through nationally defined fee-regulation and entitlement measures designed to improve the social equity profile of parental contributions. Since 1 May 2015, a national minimum requirement has limited parental fees for the first child to a maximum of 6% of total household income (capital and labour), subject to the nationally set maximum fee, while maintaining mandatory sibling discounts that progressively reduce fees for additional children. Complementing this price-regulation approach, a universal entitlement to 20 hours of free core kindergarten time per week has been established for children aged three to five from low-income households, with eligibility determined by a national income threshold (set at NOK 566,100 from August 2021).
4. Social policies and family support programmes
The Universal Child Benefit Programme (Barnetrygd) provides all families with children under 18 a non-taxable monthly allowance of NOK 1,968 per child as of 2025. Families in remote areas, such as Finnmark and Svalbard, receive an additional NOK 500 per child. The benefit is unconditional and requires the child to have resided in Norway for at least 12 months, with separate rules applying to EEA citizens and certain foreign residents. Single parents may receive an extended benefit of NOK 2,516 per month, or half that amount, NOK 1,258, if shared with the other parent, with only one extended allowance granted per household.
Furthermore, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV)’s cash-for-care benefit targets children within a defined age range (between 13 and 19 months) who are not enrolled full-time in kindergarten. It functions as a family-oriented policy measure, not as an instrument to expand kindergarten participation.
