The cost of childcare has forced one in four UK parents to quit their job or drop out of education, a new study has found.
More than 7,000 parents and carers from the UK, India, Netherlands, Nigeria, Turkey and the US with children under seven were questioned by global children's charity Theirworld.
UK parents were the most likely to find it hard to meet soaring childcare costs - with 74% saying they found it challenging. This compared to 52% in India and 68% in the US.
Most worryingly, the research found 23% of UK-based parents had either quit work or dropped out of their studies to avoid childcare costs, compared with 17% of their counterparts in Brazil, 16% in Turkey and 13% in Nigeria.
Sixty-five percent of UK parents questioned said they have had to make major financial changes, including taking on more work and spending less on food.
