The Sutton Trust said that official government figures, which show a 14 per cent drop in centre numbers from 3,632 to 3,123 between August 2009 and October 2017, are out of date and inaccurate.
Based on a survey of 124 councils, carried out in autumn last year, the charity said this is likely to be a big underestimate because there is no clear definition of a "children's centre" and official data does not keep up with closures announced locally.
While some councils that responded listed the number of centres as the same or slightly lower than the government's official Edubase data system, some gave a much lower figure.
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