International students, in addition to graduates, in Estonia have contributed €22.4 million in taxes to the Estonian economy in the last academic year ending in 2022, Statistics Estonia reveals.According to an analysis by the authority also commissioned by the Estonian Education and Youth Board, international students alone contributed €14 million, while those that decided to stay in Estonia and take employment paid over €8 million during the same time, Genefconsults.com reports.

Kadri Rootalu, the data scientist at Statistics Estonia, said that more than half of international students, representing 2,400 of those, engaged in paid employment in the country for at least one day during their academic year.

“It should also be pointed out that international students do not (do paid) work for just a few days a year. Both local and international students, who work, are usually employed for longer periods. That is, for more than 90 days,” explained Rootalu.

Furthermore, international students paid €9.4 million in social tax and another €4.6 million in income tax, while the group of students most likely to take up paid employment during their studies as those in the fields of information and communication technologies (ICT), manufacturing, engineering, business, administration, construction, and the law did.

As a result, the proportion of international graduates that stay and work in Estonia has surged in recent years, with the majority of graduates from other countries who stay in Estonia remaining in the capital city – Tallinn, where they also take up employment.

“One of our aims has been to have more motivated international graduates who stay in Estonia after graduation and offer their expertise on the Estonian labor market. However, the state should also try to find ways to ensure all Estonia’s counties benefit from the contributions of international graduates,” Eero Loonurm, head of the Study in Estonia program at the Estonian Education and Youth Board, said.

She also noted that the main enterprises where international students work are located in Tallinn as well as the rest of Harju county.

The Estonian government has been actively engaged in increasing the number of international students, as it aims for this category to represent ten per cent of the population in the country by 2025.

As of the academic year 2020/2021, a total of 5,856 international students were enrolled in Estonian universities, which represents 11 per cent of the total student population in the country. The main source markets include Finland, Russia, Ukraine, and Latvia.