Estonia ensures much better protection for LGBT rights than Latvia and Lithuania, according to human rights group ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map, which ranks countries based on their legal and policy protection for LGBT people, LSM reports. Estonia ranked 21st on the index with a score of 46.37% on a scale of 0-100% in 2026, which was up from 45.91% in 2025. Latvia was 32nd with a score of 29.64% (25.74%), while Lithuania was 37th with a score of 24.09% (24.09%). All three Baltic States were below the EU average of 52.27%.
Meanwhile, Estonia ranks best in the Baltic States on the protection of transgender rights as well, according to the European human rights organisation, Transgender Europe (TGEU), BNS reports. TGEU’s Trans Rights Index & Map showed that Estonia met 15 out of 32 criteria on the legal status and protection of transgender individuals in 2026. By comparison, Latvia met 7 and Lithuania only 5 of the criteria on the index. Lithuania’s ranking was the fourth lowest in Europe and equal to that of the neighbouring dictatorial country of Belarus.