Social protection

Social protection helps the underprivileged and vulnerable members of society to cope, covering public and private financial support and support services for job search, health care and daily living.

The state organises social protection through social insurance and social welfare. Social insurance provides a person at least a minimum income in the event of loss of employment, illness, birth of a child, incapacity for work and old age. Social welfare is aimed at improving the living standards of the most vulnerable members of society and preventing poverty. Social protection measures help people get their lives back on track. For example, in the event of job loss, temporary financial support and comprehensive advice are offered so that the person could find a new suitable job quickly.

Social protection statistics provide an overview of the underprivileged and vulnerable groups of society and of their standard of living.

Social protection statistics show

  • how many pensioners there are in Estonia;
  • how large is the average pension;
  • what is the proportion of the population who have valid health insurance;
  • how many people in Estonia need a social welfare service;
  • how many children are without parental care;
  • how many people receive unemployment insurance benefit.

Social protection statistics help to evaluate and plan measures in the field of social protection.

Pensioners 325,681
0.3%
Share of pensioners in total population 23.8 %
Old-age pensioners 310,202
0.4%
Persons covered by health insurance 1,304,429
2.4%
Persons receiving unemployment insurance benefit 41,472
145.8%
2023
Total expenditure on social protection 7.11 billion euros
24.0%
Share of social protection expenditure in GDP 18.6 %
News

Social protection expenditure on the rise

In 2017, the social protection field was mostly characterised by growth trends: the average old-age pension exceeded 400 euros, labour market measures are being used more and there is a greater variety of them, the expenditure on family allowances increased and new allowances for large families were added. The number of old-age pensioners and subsistence benefit recipients has declined.
Read more 18. June 2018