Best start to life
Ensuring children get the best start in life is a key determinant to ensuring their wellbeing into the future.
Children who are developmentally on track
This measure shows the proportion of ACT kindergarten children who are developmentally on track.
The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) enables us to reflect on what is working well and where we need to improve to better support Canberra’s children and families.
This is important because development in the early years helps prepare children for school and supports whole of life outcomes.
In 2024, 43.8% of ACT kindergarten children were assessed as being developmentally on track across all five domains of the census.
Many children in Canberra are doing well. However, ACT has the second lowest proportion of children developmentally on track across Australia. This is a decrease from 2021 (47.3%) and 2018 (48.7%) and lower than the Australian average (52.9%).
Over time, these results show a trend of a growing number of children in the ACT starting school with challenges in one or more areas of their development.
Data source
The 2024 AEDC Results were released by the Federal Government on 13 June 2025. Information and data is available at the National AEDC website and the ACT AEDC website.
Chart description
Line graph of ACT children who are developmentally on track, at 3-year intervals from 2015 to 2024. In 2024, 43.8% of children were on track compared to 47.3% in 2021.
Technical notes
The AEDC measures child development across physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills (school-based), communication skills and general knowledge.
Children 'not on track' in the AEDC include children that are 'developmentally vulnerable', 'developmentally at risk' or missing a domain score in one or more of the five AEDC domains.
