Estonia’s Minister of Economy and Industry, Erkki Keldo, has approved a national action plan to broaden equal opportunities and protections for LGBTIQ people, ERR reports. The plan sets goals to ensure that everyone in Estonia has equal opportunity to live a full, supported, and inclusive life, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or…
Gender equality in Lithuania improved in 2025, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality’s (EIGE) Gender Equality Index, BNS reports. Lithuania ranked 14th out of 27 EU member states, which was up from 16th place in 2024. Lithuania’s national score on the equality index was 60.9 out of 100 points, which was below the…
Gender equality in Latvia worsened sharply in 2025, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality’s (EIGE) Gender Equality Index, LETA reports. Latvia ranked 24th out of 27 EU member states on the index in 2025, which was down from 19th place in 2024. Latvia scored 56.7 points on gender equality, which was down from…
Over 600 couples in Latvia have registered partnerships in one year since partnerships were recognised in legislation, LSM reports. The Register of Natural Persons contained information on altogether 613 registered partnerships as of 1 July 2025, including 235 same-sex and 378 opposite-sex partnerships. Under the law, a partnership can be entered into by two adults,…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has voted to keep a civil union bill to recognise same-sex partnerships on the agenda of the parliament’s autumn session, BNS reports. Altogether 48 MPs voted to keep the bill on the agenda, another 48 were against, and 7 abstained. MPs initially supported the civil union bill in spring 2023….
Estonia’s Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Finance have drafted legislation mandating gender balance on the boards of listed companies, ERR reports. An EU directive requires that at least 40% of supervisory board members or 33% of the total board and council members be from the underrepresented gender by the end of June 2026. Currently,…
Latvia’s partnership law came into effect on 1 July 2024, allowing all couples, including same-sex couples, to register their relationships, LSM reports. A partnership is not equivalent to marriage, however. The first partnership was registered just after midnight by a same-sex couple who began their relationship in early 2019. Kaspars Zalitis of the Dzivesbiedri movement…
The unadjusted gender pay gap in the Baltic States was highest in Estonia in 2022, according to Eurostat data, LSM reported. In Estonia, women’s average gross hourly wage was 21.3% lower than that of men in 2022, which was up from 20.5% in 2021. The gender pay gap stood at 17.1% (14.6%) in Latvia and…
There will be no referendum against same-sex civil partnership in Latvia, LSM reports. A campaign to hold a popular referendum to suspend the publication of the new partnership law collected just some 15% of the around 155,000 signatures needed. The campaign, which was supported by the opposition United List, National Alliance, Latvia First, and For…