Youth

The statistics on young people provide information about the studies, employment, living conditions and social participation of Estonian residents aged 7 to 26. This is essential information, since young people account for around a fifth of Estonia's population. 

Looking at the long-term trends, the number of young people and their share in the population are decreasing. Nevertheless, in the coming years, an increase is expected in the age groups 17–19 and 20–26, which will have a positive impact on the total number of young people. The reason for this growth is that the smaller generation born in the second half of the 1990s and early 2000s is moving out of the youth age group, while the larger generation born in 2008–2011 is entering the older age groups. The low birth rate in recent years has not yet affected the cohort of 7–26-year-olds. 

On the one hand, the voice of the young in the society is weaker and they have less say on matters concerning themselves. On the other hand, expectations for them are high. Young people are often talked about as belonging to a specific group, such as students, the unemployed, drop-outs, young talent, volunteers, etc. Nearly three quarters of young people aged up to 18 are at school. After that age, the share of young people who are studying starts to decrease with each following year.

The statistics on young people show:

• how many young people study and work at the same time;
• the share of young people involved in entrepreneurship;
• the number of young people living in poverty;
• the regions with the largest share of young people with a low level of education;
• the number of young people not in education, employment or training. 

Youth monitoring supports data-driven youth policies. In order to take care of and develop young people, it is vital to know what they need and what their situation is like compared to other members of the society.

Statistics Estonia, in cooperation with the Estonian Education and Youth Board, has created a youth monitoring dashboard which is a fast and convenient source of visualised data relating to young people. The indicators are divided into seven categories: general data, migration, education, labour market, youth work, civic engagement and nationwide indicators.