About Estonian family life
Estonian families are usually individualistic where a young couple lives separately from their parents. An average family has 1-2 children. The extended family meets at important holidays such as Christmas or jubilee celebrations, but extended family reunions are also popular. The genealogy of Estonian families mostly reaches back to the 18th century, and earlier information is vague or was destroyed in the Great Northern War (which took place from 1700-1710 on Estonian territory). Considering Estonia’s modest population (1.3 million), it is not rare to find a distant relative in the course of a casual conversation.
Estonian family life is more or less closed to strangers. However, when a colleague invites you home, you should seize the opportunity. Forming close friendships takes time, but once you are accepted, you will find sincere and faithful friends.
Family benefits
State family benefits are paid to permanent inhabitants of Estonia and aliens living in Estonia on the basis of a temporary residence permit. Citizens of the EU who have come to work here can also apply for Estonian family benefits for children who are not living in Estonia. You should submit an application for an allowance to the Social Insurance Board’s local pension office within six month after coming to work in Estonia and also present your passport with a residence permit and the child’s birth certificate.
A considerable amount of Estonian family benefits is paid out in the first 1.5 years of a child’s life. Read about the childbirth allowance and parental benefit in our Birth and parental benefit tab.
The child allowance is paid monthly to one of the parents of a child under the age of 16. In case the child continues his/her studies in school, the child allowance is paid until the 19th birthday. Child allowance is currently 45 € per month for first and second child and 100 € per month for third and every following child. These benefits are paid by the Social Insurance Board.
The application for family benefits may be submitted electronically through the State portal.
See also:
Social Insurance Board. Family benefits See here for the kinds of family benefits and their amounts.
State Portal eesti.ee Maternity benefit, parental benefit, childcare allowance. Application instructions.
Social Insurance Board. Pensions and benefits
Estonian Health Insurance Board. BenefitsTallinn. Social Welfare and Health Care Department
Birth, maternity and parental benefit
A considerable amount of Estonian family benefits is paid out in the first 1.5 years of a child’s life.
Childbirth Allowance
If your child is born in Estonia there is a special one-time childbirth allowance (320 Euros as of 1st of January 2013) from the state. In addition to the application, you should submit to the local pension office your passport with the residence permit, the child’s birth certificate and also a Civil Registry certificate confirming the birth of a child.
Some local authorities pay additional childbirth allowance.
Tallinn pays additional childbirth allowance if both parents have been registered as residents of Tallinn before the birth of the child (at least one parent has to be a resident for at least one year before the birth of the child). Mother has to have registered her pregnancy before the 12th week of pregnancy. The child has to be registered as a resident of Tallinn and has to be registered at the same address with the parents. Contact the city district municipality for more details.
Tartu pays additional childbirth allowance if the applicant has been registered as a resident of Tartu at least 6 months before the birth of the child and/or before the dates of next allowance payments. The allowance is paid in 3 parts, at birth of the child, at 1st birthday and at 2nd birthday. Applications can be submitted electronically as well as in city district departments.
Maternity leave
It is possible to take a maternity leave (pregnancy vacation, Est sünnituspuhkus) 70-30 days before the expected birth of the child and 70 days after the birth of the child. The maternity leave lasts a total of 140 days. You should start the maternity leave at least 30 days before the expected birth of the child.Your gynecologist gives you a document certifying the expected birth of a child, which you must present to your employer or, in case you are self-employed, directly to the Estonian Health Insurance Board.
During the maternity leave mothers receive the maternity benefit.
Maternity benefit
Mothers who are employed receive a maternity benefit(Est sünnitushüvitis). Maternity benefit is paid by the Health Insurance Fund in the amount of 100% on the mother's monthly average salary of previous year, since the first day of exemption from work.
A father has a right to be granted 10 working days paid childcare leave (paternity leave) during the 2 months before the date of birth designated by a doctor or within two months after the birth of the child.
Childcare leave
After the end of the maternity leave (Est sünnituspuhkus) the/a parent will go on childcare leave (Est lapsehoolduspuhuks) and receive a parental benefit (Est vanemahüvitis). Parents have the right to stay on the childcare leave until the child reaches 3 years of age.
During the childcare leave a parent receives the parental benefit.
Parental benefit
The parental benefit is paid at the amount of 100% of the average earnings for 435 days. Together the maternity benefit and the parental benefit are paid for a period of 575 days (1.5 years). For example if you start your maternity leave on the 1 of March 2018, the last day that the parental benefit will be paid for is the 26 of September 2019. After the end of receiving the parental benefit, a parent will receive family benefits (see top tab) (child allowance, childcare allowance) at a fixed rate.
Calculator for determining final date of parental leave (page only in Estonian).
Calculator for finding out amount of parental benefit (page only in Estonian).
The parental benefit is paid to the parent that stays at home with the child (mother of father). The parental benefit is paid after the end of the maternity benefit. Those who do not receive the maternity benefit are paid the parental benefit starting from the birth of the child.
The minimum benefit paid to the workers is minimum wage 430 per month. For those parents who are neither working nor on parental leave (did not work before pregnancy), parental benefit is paid from the birth of a child at the flat rate of €320 per month until the child reaches 18 months of age.
Fathers have a right to parental benefit starting from 70 days after the birth of the child.
After the 1.5 years of receiveing 100% of the average salary as maternity benefit or parental benefit, the parental benefits are reduced.
Amount of parental benefit
The amount of the benefit depends on the parent’s income in the previous calendar year that is calculated on the basis of the social taxes paid in Estonia.
Social Insurance Board. Kinds of Family Allowances. Calculations and explanations.
Those who did not receive any taxable income in Estonia in the previous calendar year, receive the parental benefit according to the monthly rate of the benefit. For the year 2017 the monthly rate for parental benefit is 430 Euros.
If the average monthly income calculated based your total last year’s income was below the minimum salary rate, we will pay you the parental benefit equal to the minimum salary rate. The minimum monthly salary rate was 430 euros in 2016, and is 470 euros in 2017.
The maximum amount of parental benefit that is paid in one month is three times the average salary from the year before last. In 2017, the maximum parental benefit was 2,907.15 euros and in 2018, it will be 3,089.55 euros.
Taxes are deducted from the parental leave.
If you worked abroad last year
If you worked in the previous calendar year in Estonia as well as in another EU country, the time worked in these countries is considered as being the same as if the person had worked in Estonia, i.e. the social tax imposed in Estonia for the previous calendar year is considered paid even during periods of employment in other countries. Income actually earned in another country is not taken into account when calculating the amount of the benefit. If a parent worked in another EU country in the previous calendar year and received no income in Estonia, the parental benefit is designated at the minimum wage rate.
Working during childcare leave
As the parental benefit is meant to replace the loss of income after the birth of the child, working during the period of receiving parental benefit is quite strictly regulated. It is possible to receive income from work at the time of the parental benefit in the amount of a minimum wage. If you receive more income than that, there will be deductions in the amount of benefit in that month.
Maternity benefit is paid out by the Estonian Health Insurance Board, the other benefits are paid by the Social Insurance Board.
Last updated in spring 2018
See also:
Social Insurance Board. Kinds of Family Allowances. Calculations and explanations.
Ministry of Social Affairs. Family benefits.
Estonian State Portal. Parental Benefits. Calculating the amount of parental benefits. Applying for parental Benefits.
Day care and schools
It is possible to choose the educational institution for the child according to the language of instruction, the ownership (private, public) and at the level of general education according to the curriculum followed in school.
Preschool and day care
The preschool education is acquired either in a preschool child care institution or at home, and its acquisition is the responsibility of the child’s parents or guardians.
There are four types of preschool child care institutions – day nurseries (for children 1 to 3 years of age), nursery schools (for children 1 to 7 years of age), special nursery schools, and nursery-primary schools.
Local governments must provide the opportunity to attend child care institutions to all children between 1 and 7 years of age who live in their catchment areas if this is requested by their parents.
In general, children stay at home until the age of 1.5 years. Until then families receive the maternity and parental benefits and one of the parents can stay home. Most day-care centres do not accept children younger than 1 year. Also read general information about schools in Tallinn.
In municipal day care centres the parents pay for the cost of meals as well as a small tuition fee. Although most children go to municipal day care centres, privately owned day care centres exist as well. Additionally, babysitters can be found with the help of friends, agencies or through newspaper advertisements and very commonly through Facebook. Municipal day care centres have queues, so you should register to them as soon as possible (directly after birth).
- Väike Päike international daycare in Tallinn, works in English and Finnish
- Tallinn International Kindergarten
- Preschool in Tartu international daycare, admission, costs
Admission to preschool
The citizens of Tallinn may choose for their children any municipal preschool that has available vacancies. The application may be sent directly do the head of the institution or the application process can be done online through the state portal eesti.ee.
In Tartu there is one centrally administered queue, applications for registering should be submitted to the Tartu City Government educational department.
The working language in the public childcare institutions is mainly Estonian, but there are some that work in Russion There are also several international day care centres in Tallinn and Tartu (mostly private).
Basic education and secondary schools
To attend the school is obligatory from the age of 7 to the age of 17 or until the acquisition of basic education. Municipal schools are prevalent; some schools belong to the state and a few are privately owned. At municipal and state-owned schools there is no tuition fee, and parents must only buy school supplies.
Possibilities for education in English can be found in the two biggest cities – Tallinn and Tartu.
In Tallinn there are five schools that offer education in English.
- International School of Estonia Forms 1-12
- International School of Tallinn Forms 1-12
- Tallinn European School. The school follows the European School curriculum. The languages of instruction are English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Finnish and Estonian. The owner of the school is INNOVE Foundation and therefore the tuition fee must be paid, except for children whose parents work in the institutions/agencies of the European Union or are the employees of Tallinn European School.
- IB in Tallinn English College. Forms 1-12. Municipal school.
- IB in Audentes school. Preschool to form 12
In Tartu there are two schools that offer education in English
- Tartu International School educates students from age 6 to 15 (forms 1-10). Tartu International Daycare is governed by the same non-profit organisation. All these three are private institutions; thus, a tuition fee must be paid for the studies.
- IB Miina Härma Gümnaasium. Forms 1-12. Municipal school.
There is also a Finnish School in Tartu
You are welcome to contact the EURAXESS services centres for advice on suitable schools. If there are any problems with finding a school, EURAXESS centres will help you to contact the local government education office, who will advise you on possibilities for tuition of your child. As the number of English-speaking children in schools is growing, schools have become more experienced in meeting the needs of children, who are coming from abroad. Please consider the level of English of your child, tuition in languages other than Estonian, Russian and English can be difficult to organise.
Parents may choose a school for a child if there are vacant places in the selected school. A school is required to make sure educational opportunities for each child who resides in the school’s catchment area. Some schools do not have a catchment area and may accept pupils on the basis of admission tests or other requirements.
A child should be registered at a school by the 1st of June, for schools with admission tests earlier, and for that parents should submit to the school an application for admission together with a copy of the child’s personal identification document or birth certificate. In the event that your child has already attended school, documents certifying education obtained abroad or in another school in Estonia must also be presented.
Admission to upper secondary school takes place on the basis of admission tests and results from basic school. In most schools, admission tests to upper secondary level take place in March or April; the local education board can give you the exact dates.
The academic year
The academic year usually lasts from 1st September until June of the following year. It consists of a study period, examination period, and holidays, which include one week in the autumn, two weeks at Christmas, one week in the spring and a long summer holiday. As of the academic year 2017/2018 there will be 5 holidays proposed by the state, adding a “ski-holiday to the end of February – beginning of March. Please note that the school owners (local governements) will keep the right to decide the holiday schedule differently, following certain rules. The greatest number of lessons per week varies from 20 lessons (grade 1) to 34 lessons (grade 9). At upper secondary school the number of lessons may be 35 or even more.
You can find more information about the pre-school, basic and secondary education on the website of Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.
Useful links:
Ministry of Education and Research. About Pre-school, basic and secondary education
Estonian State portal eesti.ee General overview pf pre-school, basic and secondary education, directions for applications and admission
Admission to preshool in Tallinn Application instructions, list and map of preschools
General information about schools in Tallinn
Preschool in Tartu. International daycare, admission, costs
City of Tallinn. Education. Kindergartens, schools
City of Tartu. Education. Schools.
Going to school in Estonia (PDF, 759 KB)
The International School of Estonia
Tallinn International Kindergarten
Väike Päike international daycare in Tallinn, works in English and Finnish
Pere24 – website for searching babysitters, domestic helpers, tutors and more (choose the language from the menu)
Pets
From EU countries
If you wish to bring a dog or a cat with you to Estonia, they will need a pet passport issued in your home country and a mirochip.
The per passport contains obligatory information about the animal like ID number and certifies that the pet has been vaccinated against the rabies virus. The pet passport is identical for all EU countries.
From non-EU countries
Pets from outside of EU should have a valid veterinary certificate or pet passport, a microchip (ISO 11784) and a valid rabies vaccine. a vet in Estonia can issue an EU pet passport for allowing travelling within the EU.
According to the local government’s regulations on keeping dogs and cats, a pet owner is obliged to register their pet in the nationwide Pet Registry of local governments (LLR).
Dogs must be registered. Dogs must be vaccinated before they are registered.
The regulations in Tallinn state that a dog must be registered within 5 days after it has reached the age of 3 months, or within 5 days after its purchase.
The regulations in Tartu state that a dog must be registered within 10 days after it turns 4 month old or within 10 days after you acquire it.
It is advisable to put a collar with the registration number and contact information of the owner on the pet.
See also:
Estonian Veterinary and Food Board About pets
Estonian State portal eesti.ee About pets
See also:
Estonian e-services and the Estonian state portal eesti.ee
Calculator for determining final date of parental leave (page only in Estonian).
Calculator for finding out amount of parental benefit (page only in Estonian).