Canada is tied for last place in a UNICEF ranking of the early child-care services offered by 25 developed countries.

Canada failed to meet nine out of 10 of the proposed benchmarks UNICEF used to rank the countries.

The 10 proposed benchmarks included parental leave of one year at 50 per cent or more of salary, a national plan with priority for the disadvantaged, and child poverty rates of less than 10 per cent.

The only benchmark Canada met was that at least 50 per cent of staff in accredited early education services had post-secondary education with relevant qualifications.

"What's happening in Canada didn't surprise us because we know about the inconsistency of care and some of the quality issues and issues around parental leave," UNICEF Canada's Nigel Fisher told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.

"I think what did surprise us is the comparison, to find we were last."

Fisher said most children are in "unregulated and unaccredited care" so officials can't measure the standards.

"Number one is we need to set standards across the country, those standards need to relate to the training of care-givers," he said.

"There are also issues around access for the poorest people because we know that care can really make a difference to kids coming from at risk families later down the line in terms of their learning and earning power."

Fisher said Quebec and Manitoba stand out as the best places for early childhood services in Canada and Ontario is improving.

Still, he said "it's unfair on parents if they move from one province to another to find completely different quality and access issues."

Fisher is calling on the government to include funding for child services in next month's budget.

"We feel absolutely that investment in children, in child care, in parental leave, should be part of that package," he said.

The only country to meet all 10 standards was Sweden.

Iceland met nine of the 10 requirements. Denmark, Finland and France met eight benchmarks.

At the bottom, Canada was tied with Ireland, Australia met two of the benchmarks, while the U.S. and Switzerland met three.

The full list of the 10 UNICEF benchmarks:

• Parental leave of one year at 50 per cent of salary
• A national plan with priority for the disadvantaged
• Subsidized and regulated child care services for 25 per cent of children under 3
• Subsidized and accredited early education services for 80 per cent of 4-year-olds
• 80 per cent of all child care staff trained
• 50 per cent of staff in accredited early education services tertiary educated with relevant qualification
• Minimum staff-to-children ratio of 1:15 in pre-school education
• 1 per cent of GDP spent on early childhood services
• Child poverty rate less than 10 per cent
• Near-universal outreach of essential child health services