Women have accounted for around 60% of all students in higher education in Estonia since at least 2010, ERR reports. In health and welfare majors, there were 5,553 female and just 1,246 male students. At the same time, men account for 54% of students in vocational education. Estonia’s latest PISA results show that girls outscore boys in reading by 25 points, while boys lead in mathematics by 13 points. Meanwhile, Estonia’s gender wage gap remains one of the EU’s largest, with men earning 12.2% more than women in 2025, according to Statistics Estonia. The country’s compulsory school attendance age was raised from 16 to 18 years in 2026.
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