Education at a Glance 2026: Estonia
Table of contents
This country note for Education at a Glance 2026 provides an overview of the key characteristics of the education system in Estonia. In line with this year’s thematic focus, it emphasises teacher shortages while also covering other parts of the education system. The data in this note are provided for the latest available year. Readers are referred to the corresponding tables in Education at a Glance 2026 for notes and reference years.
Shortages of skilled workers have affected many sectors across the OECD in recent years, and the teaching profession is no exception. Teacher shortages manifest in different ways across education systems: in some countries, a lack of fully qualified teachers is reflected in a higher share of non-fully qualified staff, while in others a significant number of teaching positions remain unfilled.
Non-fully qualified teachers refer to teachers who do not yet meet all the requirements to be recognised as fully qualified teachers under national regulations. In most countries, they either possess the required academic qualifications but lack mandatory certification or teacher training, have completed the required teacher training but do not hold the required academic qualifications, or lack both. In Estonia, 20.3% of all primary and secondary teachers in public institutions were not fully qualified in 2024/25, above the OECD average of 9.1% (Figure 1).
In per cent, full-time equivalents, public institutions
1. Year of reference differs from 2024/25: academic year 2023/24 for Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Switzerland; calendar year 2024 for Chile and Costa Rica; calendar year 2025 for New Zealand; academic year 2025/26 for Japan.
2. Pre-primary and primary education are combined in France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Upper secondary education is excluded in Denmark, Israel and Switzerland. Upper secondary vocational education is excluded in Finland, Hungary and the Netherlands.
3. Teacher data are based on headcounts instead of full-time equivalents.
4. Year of reference differs from 2017/18: academic year 2018/19 for Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland; 2019/20 for Luxembourg and Poland; calendar year 2020 for New Zealand.
5. Including government-dependent private institutions.
6. Teachers classified as non-fully qualified in these countries are in the process of acquiring full qualification.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure 1 and Table 1.
Recruiting second-career teachers is a common strategy for addressing teacher shortages and helps to diversify the profile of the teaching workforce. According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024, on average across the OECD, 8.4% of lower secondary teachers are second-career teachers; in Estonia, they make up 14.1% of all teachers (Table 5).
The attractiveness of the teaching profession depends on a variety of factors, including working conditions and salaries. According to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), full-time teachers in primary, secondary and vocational education report working 40.8 hours per week on average across the OECD in 2023, compared with 41.5 hours for other full-time workers holding a bachelor’s or master’s qualification. In Estonia, these teachers report working 40.5 hours per week on average, while other full-time workers with a bachelor’s or master’s qualification report working 40.9 hours per week. This difference is not statistically significant (Table 6).
According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024, a large majority of lower secondary teachers (68.4%) are satisfied with their terms of employment (barring salaries) on average across the OECD. In contrast, the share of lower secondary teachers who are satisfied with their salaries is much lower at 38.7% on average. In Estonia, 73.4% of lower secondary teachers are satisfied with their terms of employment and 30% are satisfied with their salaries (Table 5).
Teachers tend to be older than other workers. On average across countries with available data, 25% of secondary teachers are aged 55 and over, compared to 19% of employed individuals holding at least a master’s degree and 21% of the overall employed population. Estonia follows a similar pattern: 40% of secondary teachers are aged 55 and over, compared to 32% of employed individuals holding at least a master’s degree and 25% of the overall employed population (Figure 10).
High teacher turnover can indicate dissatisfaction with the profession, but the number of teachers in public institutions who leave the profession is also shaped by factors such as the age structure of the workforce, labour-market conditions and the professional culture of a country. In Estonia, 8.7% of fully qualified teachers in primary and secondary education left the profession (through retirement or resignation) in 2024/25, compared with an OECD average of 6.4% (Table 3).
Educational attainment remains at an all-time high in 2025 as more people obtain advanced qualifications. Across the OECD, 43% of working-age adults (25-64 year-olds) have a tertiary qualification, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is slightly lower at 39%. In Estonia, the share of adults with tertiary attainment is similar to the OECD average at 42%, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is above the OECD average at 47% (Table A1.1).
The share of young adults without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, standing at 12% in 2025. However, this is not the case in Estonia, where the share of 25-34 year-olds without upper secondary attainment remained unchanged at 12% between 2015 and 2025 (Table A1.2).
While more young adults obtain a tertiary qualification, the share of individuals whose highest qualification is upper secondary with a vocational orientation is decreasing in almost all OECD countries. This is also the case in Estonia, where 25% of all 55-64 year-olds have upper secondary vocational attainment in 2025, compared to 15% of all 25-34 year-olds (Table A1.3).
Youth and young adults who are neither employed nor in education or training (NEET) are a key policy concern, as prolonged periods of inactivity at a young age can have lasting negative effects on socio-economic outcomes later in life. In Estonia, 11% of all 18-24 year-olds were NEET in 2025, down from 13% in 2015. For comparison, the average share of NEETs across OECD countries with available data for both years was 13% in 2025 and 16% in 2015 (Table A2.2).
Employment outcomes for recent tertiary graduates vary across countries and are shaped by economic conditions, labour demand, and public policy. In Estonia, the unemployment rate among tertiary-educated young adults increased from 3% in 2015 to 6% in 2025. The corresponding rates across OECD countries with available data for both years were 7% on average in 2015 and 5% in 2025 (Table A3.3. and Figure 2).
In per cent of 25-34 year-olds in the labour force
Note: The OECD average on the right is based on a fixed sample of 34 countries.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure A3.1 and Unemployment rates of adults, by educational attainment, age group and gender (indicator), https://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/570 (accessed on 27 August 2026).
The labour-market significance of advanced qualifications is also reflected in earnings. In almost every OECD country, workers (aged 25-64) without a tertiary qualification have earnings below the national average. In Estonia, full-time, full-year workers with general upper secondary as their highest level of attainment earn 9% less than the national average, those with vocational upper secondary attainment earn 17% less and those with below upper secondary attainment earn 27% less. The corresponding wage gaps on average across the OECD are 13% for general upper secondary attainment, 17% for vocational upper secondary attainment and 31% for below upper secondary attainment (Figure A4.1).
As the demand for skills in the labour market changes, participation in lifelong learning is essential for all adults. According to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), among employed adults, younger adults (aged 25-44) are more likely to participate in non-formal education or training than older adults (aged 45-64), but differences between the age groups are often small. In Estonia, 65% of 25-44 year-olds had participated in non-formal education or training over the last 12 months, compared to 53% of 45-64 year-olds. Across the OECD, average participation rates are 52% among 25-44 year-olds and 45% among 45-64 year-olds (Figure A5.2).
Workers with higher educational attainment are much more likely to be in jobs where they can work from home in most countries. In Estonia, 45% of tertiary-educated workers sometimes or usually work from home compared to 17% of workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment (Figure A6.3).
Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is common among children from the age of 3 in all OECD countries. In Estonia, 91% of children between the age of 3 and the starting age of primary education (age 7 in Estonia) were enrolled in ECEC in 2024, higher than the OECD average of 90% (Figure B1.1). In addition, 8% of 2 year old children in Estonia are enrolled in ECEC services outside the scope of ISCED, such as programmes that primarily provide care (Table B1.1).
In most countries, there is no strong alignment between trends in the number of students and trends in the number of schools at lower secondary level. In Estonia, the number of lower secondary students increased by 3.36% annually between 2015 and 2024, while the number of lower secondary schools decreased by 1.08% annually over the same period. On average across the OECD, the number of students increased by 0.96%, while the number of schools decreased by 0.10% (Figure B2.1).
Transitions from one level of education to the next are critical junctions in a student’s trajectory and have a major influence on educational outcomes. One year after the last grade of lower secondary education, 90% of students in Estonia are enrolled in an upper secondary or other education programme, 3% of students are repeating the last grade in lower secondary and 7% are not enrolled in formal education. The share of students who are not enrolled is above the average of 5% among the 22 countries and economies with available data (Figure B3.1).
In upper secondary education, 82% of new entrants in Estonia complete a general or vocational programme within two years of the theoretical end of the programme. By this point, 3% of the cohort remain enrolled, while 14% have dropped out without qualifying (Table B3.3). In Estonia, women are 8 percentage points more likely to complete their upper secondary programme than their men peers, a gap that is larger than the gap in most other countries with available data (Table B3.2).
The transition from upper secondary education to other programmes or the labour market is another important milestone in a student’s career. One year after the end of their upper secondary programme, 52% of students are enrolled in a bachelor’s or master’s degree programme in Estonia, 2% are enrolled in a post-secondary non-tertiary or short-cycle tertiary programme, 5% are enrolled in another upper secondary or other type of programme and 41% are no longer enrolled in any education. In comparison, on average across countries with available data, 35% of upper secondary graduates are enrolled in a bachelor’s or master’s degree programme, 13% are enrolled in a post-secondary non-tertiary or short-cycle tertiary programme, 10% are enrolled in another upper secondary or other type of programme and 42% are no longer enrolled in education (Table B3.4).
At tertiary level (ISCED 5-8), most OECD countries host a larger number of international students than they send abroad. On average across the OECD, outbound internationally mobile students account for 6% of all national students (whether enrolled domestically or abroad), while inbound students account for 12% of all students enrolled domestically in 2024. In Estonia the share of outbound international students is 8%, while inbound international students average 10%. The top three destination countries for outbound students in Estonia are the Netherlands (20%), Finland (14%) and Germany (11%), while the top three origin countries of inbound students are Finland (17%), Ukraine (11%) and Russia (7%) (Table B4.3. and Table B4.4).
In many countries, inbound mobility has increased faster than outbound mobility among tertiary students. On average across the OECD, the share of inbound mobile students increased by 4 percentage points between 2015 and 2024, and the share of outbound mobile students increased by 1 percentage point. In Estonia, the share of inbound students increased by 5 percentage points, while the share of outbound students increased by 1 percentage point (Table B4.3).
Most investment in education comes from public sources. On average across the OECD, government expenditure on primary to tertiary education (based on initial funds, on educational institutions) corresponded to 4% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure corresponded to 0.6%. In Estonia, government expenditure equalled 4% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure equalled 0.3% (Table C1.8).
In OECD countries with available data for both years, average government expenditure on primary to tertiary education (based on final funds, inside and outside educational institutions) has decreased slightly from 4.4% of GDP in 2015 to 4.2% in 2023. Over the same period, it increased from 4.1% to 4.4% in Estonia, thus defying the trend of declining government expenditure on education as a share of GDP (Figure 3).
Total government expenditure on education (inside and outside of educational institutions); primary to tertiary education
1. Data include or exclude some categories, please refer to the source table for more information.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure C1.2 and Table C1.7.
Government expenditure on primary to tertiary education as share of GDP (based on final funds, on educational institutions, including R&D) varies by a factor of approximately two across OECD countries (ranging from 2.4% to 5.2%), while government expenditure per student varies by a factor of ten (from USD 3 398 to USD 32 832 adjusted for purchasing power parity) as differences in income levels mean nominal expenditure tends to vary more than relative expenditure. On average across the OECD, expenditure per student from primary to tertiary education was USD 13 601 in 2023, while in Estonia it was USD 12 205 (Table C1.4. and Table C1.1).
In early childhood education, government expenditure per child has grown substantially between 2015 and 2023 in many OECD countries. This was also the case in Estonia, where expenditure per child aged 3-5 in 2023 was USD 10 259 compared to USD 6 843 in 2015 (Table C2.3).
Government expenditure on education tends to rise with the level of education. In primary education, expenditure per student was USD 11 654 in 2023 in Estonia and USD 12 893 on average across the OECD. In lower secondary education, it was USD 12 894 in Estonia and USD 14 291 on average across the OECD. Thus, Estonia is among the majority of OECD countries where expenditure is higher at lower secondary level than at primary level (Table C3.1).
Expenditure can be divided into capital and current expenditure: the former finances investment in assets such as infrastructure, while the latter covers regular operating costs. Current expenditure can be further broken down into staff compensation and other current expenditure, such as purchases of goods and services and routine maintenance. In Estonia, 77% of current expenditure in primary educational institutions is dedicated to staff compensation compared to 79% on average across the OECD, while the remainder is dedicated to other current expenditure (Figure C3.3).
At upper secondary level, government expenditure per student can differ substantially between general and vocational programmes. Vocational programmes are often more expensive than general programmes due to the need for specialised technical equipment, while at the same time, private contributions, for example from firms, cover a larger share of overall costs in some countries. In Estonia, expenditure per student is USD 6 302 in general upper secondary programmes and USD 10 228 in vocational upper secondary programmes, compared to the OECD average of USD 12 421 in general programmes and USD 13 901 in vocational ones (Table C4.1).
On average across the OECD, government expenditure per student is the highest at bachelor’s and above levels despite being the levels where government expenditure accounts for the smallest share of total expenditure. Estonia is among the countries where government expenditure constitutes a larger share of total expenditure compared to the OECD average. Government expenditure per student was USD 17 660 in 2023, corresponding to 80% of total expenditure at bachelor’s and above levels. In comparison, average government expenditure per student across the OECD was USD 16 405, amounting to 68% of total expenditure (Table C5.1).
As discussed above, most countries have increased their investment in pre-primary education in recent years. This is also reflected in the ratio of children to teachers. Across the OECD, the number of children enrolled at this level decreased slightly by 2% between 2015 and 2024 while the number of teachers increased by 14%, resulting in a 14% reduction in the child-to-teacher ratio. Similarly, in Estonia, the number of children enrolled in pre-primary education decreased by 2%, while the number of pre-primary teachers increased by 2%, resulting in a 3% decrease of the child-to-teacher ratio (Data for chart D2.1).
In most countries, salaries of teachers in public institutions are lower than the salaries of other tertiary-educated workers, especially for teachers at lower levels of education. This is also the case in Estonia, where pre-primary teachers earned on average 34% less than other tertiary-educated workers, while lower secondary teachers earned on average 13% less than other tertiary-educated workers (Table D3.2).
Teachers spend only a fraction of their working time teaching; the remainder is devoted to other tasks, including lesson preparation and marking. On average across the OECD, primary teachers taught 770 hours per year compared to 710 hours per year in lower secondary education. In Estonia, annual typical teaching hours were 592 in primary education and 626 in lower secondary education. Thus, Estonia was one of the few countries where teachers in primary education did not have to teach more hours than their lower secondary colleagues (Figure 4).
Net statutory teaching time in hours per year, in public institutions
Note: Please refer to the source table for information on whether the data refer to typical, minimum or maximum hours.
1. Actual teaching time (in Latvia except for pre-primary level).
2. Reference year differs from 2023. Refer to the source table for details.
3. Average planned teaching time in each school at the beginning of the school year.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure D4.1 and Table D4.1.
Women form the majority of teachers at all levels of education except tertiary. Teachers in pre-primary education are almost entirely women with 96% of teachers being female on average across the OECD. The share of women among pre-primary teachers in Estonia is even higher at 99%. At 82%, the share of female teachers in lower secondary education is lower, although it is still above the OECD average of 68% (Table D5.1).
Contact
For more information on Education at a Glance 2026 and to access the full set of indicators, see: https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en.
For more information on the methodology used during the data collection for each indicator, the references to the sources and the specific notes for each country, see Education at a Glance 2026: Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, https://doi.org/10.1787/dcf64a14-en.
For general information on the methodology, please refer to the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264304444-en.
Updated data can be found online at http://data-explorer.oecd.org/ and by following the StatLinks in the publication.
Explore, compare and visualise more data and analysis using the Education GPS: https://gpseducation.oecd.org/.
Questions can be directed to the Education at a Glance team at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills: EDU.EAG@oecd.org.
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