Working international students and graduates contributed nearly 23 million euros in taxes in the academic year 2023/2024
According to Statistics Estonia, working international students and international graduates who have stayed to work here after graduation contributed nearly 23 million euros in taxes in Estonia in the academic year 2023/2024. Although the number of international students in Estonia has decreased, their contribution to the Estonian economy has not fallen as much.
This is the sixth time that Statistics Estonia has been commissioned by the Education and Youth Board to analyse the economic contribution of working international students and international graduates who stay in Estonia and work here. In the academic year 2023/2024, there were 4,336 international students in Estonia and 1,960 of them worked here as well.
The number of working international students has decreased, but they are more often in long-term employment
Kadri Rootalu, data scientist at Statistics Estonia and the author of the report, said that, compared to the preceding academic year, there was a decrease in the overall number of international students in Estonia as well as in the number of working international students (down by about 500 and 400, respectively). “The decreased number of working students reflects the overall trend on the Estonian labour market, with young people struggling to find work in their field of specialisation. On the other hand, in the academic year 2023/2024, there was a rise in the share of international students who worked more than six months in a year (78% of working international students). This suggests that the decrease in employment mainly concerns international students working under a contract for services or in short-term employment,” explained Rootalu.
The lower number of international students receiving labour income also means a decline in their tax contribution. In the academic year 2023/24, international students in Estonia paid 5.4 million euros in income tax and 10.3 million euros in social tax (total tax contribution 15.7 million euros). This is less than in the academic year 2022/23 (16.6 million euros) but more than in the academic year 2021/22 (14.1 million euros). The average labour income earned by local and international students was more or less the same – a little over 1,600 euros per month.
International students who graduated in Estonia in the academic year 2022/23 and stayed to work here earned 14.1 million euros of labour income in the academic year 2023/24. They paid a total of 7.1 million euros in labour taxes, which is a little more than in the preceding reference period.
Employment in education is increasingly common
In the academic year 2023/2024, the share of working international students was the greatest in engineering, manufacturing and construction (70%), followed by education (69%) and by information and communication technology (ICT) (65%), which used to hold first place. In the same academic year, the top economic activities where international graduates were employed were information and communication, education, and financial and insurance activities. The number of international students and graduates employed in education has increased steadily over the years. The main reason for this is the 2022 doctoral education reform, resulting in more doctoral students being employed by universities as junior research fellows.
The previous reports have provided information about graduates mainly in the first academic year after their graduation, while the latest report considers a longer reference period. Considering the international students who graduated in Estonia in 2018–2023 and are not studying now, 44% of them were working in Estonia in the academic year 2023/2024 with a total contribution of 35.5 million euros in labour taxes.
Eero Loonurm, head of the Study in Estonia programme at the Education and Youth Board, said that the role of international graduates will continue to increase. “International students and graduates offer the greatest economic benefit for international enterprises providing English-speaking jobs. But it is important to find ways to engage them more in the Estonian public sector and in regional development. In the academic year 2023/24 alone, international students and graduates working in Estonia paid 35.5 million euros in labour taxes, but this number only covers those who have stayed in Estonia. In the future, the goal is to also analyse the economic impact of graduates who worked in Estonia but have left by now,” explained Loonurm. “It is also necessary to study the impact of international students in terms of business connections, investments and tourism-related developments, for example.”
The latest report and the results of previous reports are available on Statistics Estonia’s website.
When using Statistics Estonia’s data and graphs, please indicate the source.
For further information:
Susann Kivi
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 5696 6484
press [at] stat.ee (press[at]stat[dot]ee)