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During the population and housing census, information on the highest level of education attained by inhabitants of Estonia was also gathered. Collected data revealed that the educational attainment of the population continues to rise. The level of education of foreigners living in here has also increased significantly. Below we will take a closer look at the educational attainment of the native Estonian- and Russian-speaking population as well as that of other mother tongue speakers and see how it has changed since the previous censuses.

Sigrid Saagpakk, analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted that Statistics Estonia uses the data of the employment register of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board to estimate the number of occupied posts and labour turnover. Data on job vacancies, however, are collected by Statistics Estonia using a questionnaire. Vacant posts accounted for 1.7% of the total number of posts The total number of vacant and occupied posts in the second quarter was 595,760. The number of vacant posts was the highest in education (1,782) and in wholesale and retail trade (incl. repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles)

Krista Vaikmets, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that wage growth slowed down in 2025. “Last year, wages and salaries did not grow as fast as in previous years, but monthly gross wages still increased in all counties. The biggest increase was registered in Valga, Põlva and Rapla counties where gross wages were up by more than 6.5% last year,” she said. Vaikmets added that, in 2025, the average monthly gross wages and salaries were the highest in Harju county (2,336 euros), rising by 5.3% year on year, and in Tartu county (2,112 euros), growing by 5.9% year on year. “Looking at

Statistics Estonia, commissioned by the Education and Youth Board, analysed for the fifth time the economic contribution of working international students and international graduates. Although the number of international degree students in Estonia was down from the previous years, international students paid 16.6 million euros in income and social tax in the academic year 2022/23, and graduates from the year before contributed 6.9 million euros. For students, this is 2.5 million euros more than in the previous academic year, while for graduates it is 1.5 million euros less.

Krista Vaikmets, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that wage growth was stable at 5 to 6%. “Year on year, wages have increased in all counties, with the greatest increase registered in Rapla and Järva counties where the rise in gross wages and salaries was about 7%. The increase in average monthly wages was the smallest in Viljandi and Tartu counties – about 5%,” said Vaikmets. In the first quarter, the average monthly gross wages and salaries were again the highest in Harju county (2,405 euros), rising by 6.3% year on year, and in Tartu county (2,129 euros), growing by 5.3% year on

Sigrid Saagpakk, analyst at Statistics Estonia, stated that the total number of vacant and occupied posts in the first quarter was a little over 594,000. “The number of vacant posts was the highest in education (1,274) and in public administration and defence (1,254). The number of occupied posts, however, was the greatest in manufacturing (97,736),” she said. The analyst noted that, in the first quarter of 2025, vacant posts accounted for 1.5% of the total number of posts. In the first quarter of 2024, vacant positions accounted for 1.6%. In the first quarter of this year, in addition to

Tea Vassiljeva, analyst at Statistics Estonia, explained that the unemployment rate, i.e. the share of the unemployed in the labour force, was 7.5% last year, which is just 0.1 percentage points lower than in 2024. In 2025, the average number of the unemployed was 56,200 – this is down by 900 from the year before. Unemployment grew the most among young men “Unemployment decreased among women but increased among men. Women’s unemployment rate, which was 7.5% in 2024, dropped to 6.6% in 2025. As for men, their unemployment rate grew by 0.7 percentage points compared with 2024 and reached 8.3% as

Data from the 2021 census show that the share of people with higher education in Estonia is increasing and the share of people with basic education is decreasing. A fifth of the inhabitants in Estonia have a master's degree, and Tartu and Viimsi stand out for their particularly high concentration of highly educated people.

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2023, life expectancy at birth was 79 years in Estonia. This is the highest result ever and puts Estonia ahead of the other Baltic countries. At the same time, there was a slight decrease in healthy life years.