Estonia

2025

2022

2018

The highest possible score for a country is 100, and the lowest is -15. You can expand the different sections below to understand how the score was calculated for each indicator.

Indicator scores

Anti-Discrimination Legislation Applicable to Education

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

Anti-LGBTQI Measures

There have been no legislative changes in Estonia since 2018 that relate to education and SOGIGESC issues.

Estonia’s Chancellor of Justice gave an authoritative opinion in 2011, claiming that the open list of grounds of discrimination in Article 12 of the Estonian Constitution (1992) includes sexual orientation.

The Equal Treatment Act (2009) prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in vocational guidance, vocational training, advanced vocational training and retraining, but not in elementary, secondary or upper secondary schools. The Gender Equality Act (2004) has a wide scope of application, including the field of education, and has been interpreted as covering discrimination on the ground of gender identity.

Policies and Action Plans

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

No anti-bullying policy or national action plan: 0/10 | Anti-bullying policy or national action plan covering one ground of discrimination: 5/10 | Two grounds: 7.5/10 | Three grounds: 10/10

There are currently no national policies or action plans to directly tackle anti-LGBTQI bullying or promote LGBTQI inclusion.

ECRI’s sixth country report on Estonia called for targeted action against anti-LGBTQI bullying as part of the implementation of the 2017 “Bullying-free Education” concept and several ongoing programs to prevent bullying.

Inclusive Compulsory Education Curricula

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

No evidence of compulsory national curricula inclusive of LGBTQI people: 0/10 | The compulsory national curricula includes representation of one ground of discrimination: 5/10 | Two grounds: 7.5/10 | Three grounds: 10/10

The national curriculum does not include references to SOGIGESC issues.

The Decree on National Curriculum (2011) enlists the values of the curriculum, including tolerance, gender equality, cultural diversity etc. and it emphasises the need to learn to accept differences and respect diversity in society. However, the decree does not specifically mention LGBTQI rights nor contains content on SOGIGESC issues. The national curriculum focuses on skills and values that students should learn in school. Schools individually draft their own, more detailed, curricula.

The country’s national curriculum includes a “Sex and Relationship” education subject. The subject is present in both the basic (7-16 years of age) and upper secondary (16-19 years of age) schools. Whilst it refers to sexual orientation in a positive manner, it does not mention gender identity, gender expression or sex characteristics.

The country has civic education as part of its curriculum. However, the subject does not include the discussion of discrimination based on SOGIGESC. “Family education” teaches upper secondary learners the diversity of family and other cohabitation forms.

Mandatory Teacher Training on LGBTQI Inclusion

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

No mention of SOGIGESC in the mandatory teacher training programme: 0/10 Mandatory teacher training program with mention of one ground of discrimination: 5/10 | Two grounds: 7.5/10 | Three grounds: 10/10

There is currently no mandatory teacher training on LGBTQI awareness. Universities may decide freely what the teacher training curricula contain. Whilst some universities offer or even have mandatory courses, others don’t have any such classes on offer.

School Environment and Partnerships

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

Hostile environment

Hostile school environment and no government partnership with civil society: -5/10 | There is no evidence of the government providing funding or working in partnership with civil society: 0/10 | The government provides funding and works in partnership with civil society to promote inclusive education for one ground of discrimination: 5/10 | Two grounds: 7.5/10 | Three grounds: 10/10

Extracurricular activities are present in Estonian schools, and although LGBTQI organisations and youth clubs are allowed to be formed on school premises, they are not common in either urban or rural contexts.

In the past years there hasn’t been a public debate regarding the inclusion or exclusion of LGBTQI issues in the school curriculum.

ECRI has noted that bullying against LGBTQI pupils and students remains an issue. In a survey conducted among LGBTQI students in 2018, 68% of participants stated that they had experienced harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, while only 33% of participants who had experienced violence reported it to school authorities. The same survey also suggested that school authorities had rarely intervened in cases of anti-LGBTQI bullying, for instance, when hateful remarks were made, which therefore led to feelings of emotional and social isolation among these pupils and students. Furthermore, only 42% of participants reported that LGBTQI topics were mentioned in their school.

The above information demonstrates that the government does not provide funding, nor does it actively work in partnership with NGOs in relation to education.

Legal Gender Recognition

/10

Legal gender recognition without self-determination

Legal gender recognition with self-determination (over 16)

Legal gender recognition with self-determination (under 16)

No gender recognition provisions: 0/10 | There are laws and provisions, but with legal/medical/psychological approval: 5/10 | There are laws for self-determination, but only for those over 16 years of age: 7,5/10 | There are laws on gender self-determination, including those under 16 years of age: 10/10

Legal gender recognition procedures are in place, however not on the basis of self-determination but rather on abusive medical diagnosis. The General Requirements on Medical Procedures for the Change of Gender Act (1999) gives authority to a medical expert committee which decides on the possibility of legal gender recognition. The Estonian Names Act (2005) attaches the right to name change to legal gender recognition.

There have been no legislative changes in Estonia since 2018 that relate to legal gender recognition.

There are no national or regional guidelines allowing students to use their preferred name in school and/or universities before they legally change their name and gender marker.

ECRI has noted that the regulations governing legal gender recognition and gender reassignment lack clarity and has recommended that the legal framework be further developed to include the essential information and necessary steps concerning both legal gender recognition and gender reassignment, preferably by making the two procedures distinct from each other.

Data Collection on Bullying and Harassment

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

There is no evidence of national or regional data collection on bullying and harassment in education environments, or SO, GIGE and SC are not specifically mentioned: 0/10 | National or regional data on bullying and harassment in education environments is collected and disaggregated for one ground of discrimination: 5/10 | Two grounds: 7.5/10 | Three grounds: 10/10

The government collects general data on bullying and harassment, without segregating data on the grounds of discrimination.

End of 2019 the civil society organisation “Estonian LGBT Association” published their summary results of a survey conducted among LGBT students in elementary, secondary, and vocational schools focusing on safety in education.

Support Systems for LGBTQI Young People

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

There is no evidence of support systems specifically designed for LGBTQI learners: 0/10 | Direct or indirect support systems are provided by schools or local authorities, but the providers lack training in LGBTQI-related issues: 0/10 | Direct or indirect support systems are provided by schools or local authorities for one ground of discrimination: 5/10 | Two grounds: 7.5/10 | Three grounds: 10/10

The government provides no specific support systems for LGBTQI learners or their families.

Support for victims of school bullying is offered by trained school staff. However, the training does not include a section on LGBTQI-specific issues. There are no separate LGBTQI-specific support services at school or local level.

Information and Guidelines

/10

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

Anti-LGBTQI Measures

Policies prohibiting the presence of LGBTQI-related information are in place: -5/10 | Schools are not required to adopt inclusive education guidelines: 0/10 | Information or guidelines for LGBTQI inclusion adopted by schools that mention one ground of discrimination: 5/10 | Two grounds: 7.5/10 | Three grounds: 10/10

LGBTQI information is allowed to be present and publicly visible within school venues, and school employees are allowed to provide information regarding the LGBTQI community to students. However, urban and rural schools tend to not provide information through leaflets and posters on the school premises.

Individual schools are not required to have inclusive and anti-bullying policies and action plans. There is currently no requirement for schools to adopt guidelines for the inclusion of LGBTQI learners.

International Commitments

/10

Member of the European Governmental LGBTI Focal Points Network

Ratified the UNESCO Ministerial Call to Action

Neither Member in the EFPN or ratification of the UNESCO Call for Action: 0/10 | Member of the EFPN or ratification of the UNESCO Call for Action: 5/10 | Member of the EFPN and ratification of the UNESCO Call for Action: 10/10

Estonia has ratified seven of the nine core UN treaties, including the ICESCR and the CRC, which enshrine the right to education. Estonia is a member of the European Governmental LGBTI Focal Points Network (as of November 2020) and has signed the 2016 UNESCO Call for Action.

View the map scored by indicator

Grounds of discrimination

Here is the country's score for each ground of discrimination on which we based our observations for 8 of the 10 indicators presented above.

Sexual orientation

Gender identity and expression

Sex characteristics (intersex)

See the map scored by ground of discrimination

Country score evolution

2025

/100

2022

/100

2018

/100

To enable a meaningful comparison of country progress over time, we have retroactively aligned the scoring systems used in the 2018 and 2022 Editions of IGLYO’s LGBTQI Inclusive Education Index with the updated 2025 scoring criteria. While each edition of the research has built on the previous one, reflecting evolving standards and priorities in inclusive education, minor changes to indicators and scoring weights were introduced in 2022 and 2025 to improve clarity, consistency, and comprehensiveness.
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By recalculating the earlier scores according to the 2025 framework, we have tried to ensure comparability across all three editions and provide a more accurate picture of progress, stagnation, or regression in each country’s approach to LGBTQI-inclusive education. For this reason, you might find some scores in the PDF Report & Index 2018 and 2022 differing from those on the Education website for these two years.

Good practices

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