„In Europe, there are significant differences in the age at which children have a guaranteed place in ECEC. Only six EU Member States (Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) and Norway have no ECEC gap, ensuring a place in ECEC for each child around the end of their parents’ childcare leave.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe 2025 (2025), S. 13.
Anm.: „'Well-paid childcare leave' is considered, which means earnings-related payment of 66 % of earnings or more. It includes post-natal maternity, paternity and parental leaves.“
In Österreich umfasst der ECEC gap 3,8 Jahre und ist damit EU-weit einer der größten. (Quelle: EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe 2025 (2025), S. 57.)

„Only seven Member States (Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) and Norway guarantee a place in ECEC for each child from an early age (6–18 months), often immediately after the end of childcare leave.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe 2025 (2025), S. 51.

„In 2023, 12.7 % of people in the EU aged 25 to 64 years participated in education and/or training during the four weeks prior to being surveyed. […] Among people aged 25 to 64 years, the highest participation rates in education and/or training in 2023 were observed in Sweden (38.8 %), Denmark (30.5 %), Finland (26.1 %), the Netherlands (24.4 %) and Estonia (23.2 %).“
Eurostat (Hrsg.), Statistics on equality and non-discrimination in the EU. 2024 edition (2024), S. 22.
In Österreich waren es 17,1 %. (Quelle: Eurostat-Datenbank, Abfrage vom 1. Jänner 2025.)

„Die aktuell höchsten Ausgaben in % des BIP in Form von Geldleistungen tätigen Estland (2,32 %), Luxemburg und Polen (je 2,30 %), mit etwas Abstand gefolgt von Österreich (1,77 %) […] Bei den Ausgaben für Sachleistungen, wie beispielsweise frühkindliche Bildung und Betreuung, führen 2019 Schweden mit 2,13 % des BIP, gefolgt von Dänemark (2,04 %), Finnland (1,78 %), Frankreich (1,38 %) und Deutschland (1,34 %). […] Österreich liegt mit 0,74 % des BIP bei den Sachleistungen unter dem EU-Durchschnitt (0,98 %). […] Bei den Ausgaben für steuerliche Unterstützungen führen Deutschland (0,82 %), Frankreich (0,73 %) und Ungarn (0,70 %). Österreich liegt mit 0,41 % im Jahr 2019 inklusive Familienbonus Plus deutlich über dem EU-Durchschnitt.“
ÖIF (Hrsg.), Entwicklung öffentlicher Ausgaben für Familien in 22 EU-Staaten (2024), S. 15.

„In Estonia language classes are provided to all those in pre-primary school who do not speak Estonian at home. In the Netherlands, children from disadvantaged backgrounds between the ages of two and a half and four are entitled to ten hours of language development per week, which has been assessed as highly beneficial.“
OECD (Hrsg.), OECD Economic Surveys: Austria 2024 (2024), S. 76.

„2020 stammten im Durchschnitt der OECD-Länder 84 % aller Mittel für Bildungseinrichtungen des Primar- bis Tertiärbereichs direkt aus öffentlichen Quellen und 15 % aus privaten Quellen. […] Mittel aus internationalen Quellen finanzieren nur einen sehr kleinen Teil der Gesamtausgaben für Bildungseinrichtungen. Im Durchschnitt der OECD-Länder decken sie 1 % der Gesamtausgaben, in Estland sind es 4 %.“
OECD (Hrsg.), Bildung auf einen Blick 2023 (2023), S. 315.
In Österreich stammten sogar 94 % aller Mittel direkt aus öffentlichen Quellen und nur 6 % aus privaten Quellen. Mittel aus internationalen Quellen leisteten keinen statistisch relevanten Beitrag zur Finanzierung des österreichischen Bildungswesens. (Quelle: ibidem, Tab. C3.1)

„Only seven EU Member States (Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) as well as Norway guarantee a place in ECEC for each child from an early age (6–18 months), often immediately after the end of childcare leave. […] Therefore, when considering the differences in the starting age of the guaranteed place in ECEC, it is important to take into account another important family policy measure, namely the length of childcare leave.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Structural indicators for monitoring education and training systems in Europe – 2023. Early childhood education and care (2023), S. 5f.

„Findings from the OECD International Early Learning and Well-being Study (IELS) suggest that 5-year-olds from socio-economically disadvantaged homes in England (United Kingdom), Estonia and the United States face an average learning gap of about 12 months in early literacy and numeracy compared to advantaged peers, and that attending ECEC is linked to stronger cognitive development for these disadvantaged children.“
Carlos González-Sancho u. a., Levelling the playing field in ECEC: Results from TALIS Starting Strong 2018 (2023), S. 6.

„In OECD countries, most national students entering tertiary education enrol in a programme at Bachelor’s or equivalent level. At this level, public institutions do not charge tuition fees to national students in Denmark, Estonia (only for programmes taught in Estonian), Finland, Norway, Sweden and Türkiye. In a similar number of countries, tuition fees are low or moderate, with an average cost to students of under USD 3,000. In the rest of the OECD, tuition fees are high or very high, ranging from around USD 4,000 to over USD 8,000 per year. These costs are highest in England (United Kingdom), where they exceed USD 12,000, which is considered even more expensive than in the US.“
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hatidža Jahić u. a., Alternative financing models and student loans in higher education (2023), S. 8.

„2019 stammten im Durchschnitt der OECD-Länder 83 % aller Mittel für Bildungseinrichtungen des Primar- bis Tertiärbereichs direkt aus öffentlichen Quellen und 16 % aus privaten Quellen. […] Mittel aus internationalen Quellen finanzieren nur einen sehr kleinen Teil der Gesamtausgaben für Bildungseinrichtungen. Im Durchschnitt der OECD-Länder decken sie 1 % der Gesamtausgaben, in Estland sind es 5 %.“
OECD (Hrsg.), Bildung auf einen Blick 2022 (2022), S. 341.
In Österreich stammten 2019 93 % aller Mittel für Bildungseinrichtungen des Primar- bis Tertiärbereichs direkt aus öffentlichen Quellen und 7 % aus privaten Quellen (Quelle: OECD (Hrsg.), Bildung auf einen Blick 2022 (2022), Tab. C3.1).

„The retention of international students varies greatly across OECD countries. Five years after initial admission to the country, more than 60 % of international students who obtained a permit for study reasons in 2015 were still present in Canada and Germany, around half in Australia, Estonia and New Zealand, and around two in five in France and Japan.“
OECD (Hrsg.), International Migration Outlook 2022 (2022), S. 180.
Österreich gehört zu den OECD-Staaten, denen es am wenigsten gelingt, international Studierende nach Abschluss ihres Studiums im Land zu halten. (Quelle: ibidem, Fig. 7.1.)

„Among the Member States for which data are available for 2020, Poland’s migrant population aged 25-54 born in another EU Member State had the highest share of completed tertiary education (67.9 %), followed by Estonia (65.0 %) and Sweden (62.4 %).“
Eurostat, Presseaussendung vom 7. Juli 2021.

In 2019, Austria (8.3 %), Denmark (8.2 %) and France (8.0 %) recorded the highest ratios to GDP devoted to health among EU Member States. […] For education, the highest shares were registered in Sweden (6.9 %), Denmark (6.3 %), Belgium (6.2 %) and Estonia (6.0 %).“
Eurostat online am 26. Februar 2021.
Dem Bildungswesen wurden im Jahr 2019 in Österreich nur 4,8 % des BIP gewidmet. (Quelle: ibidem)

„Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Norway and Slovenia guarantee places in ECCE in their regulatory frameworks for all children after the end of parental leave. […] In Slovenia, preschool is free of charge for all children aged 3 to 6.“
UNESCO (Hrsg.), Non-state actors in education (2021), S. 243.

„Die gesetzlichen bzw. vertraglich vereinbarten Gehälter der Lehrpersonen sind im OECD-Raum zwischen 2005 und 2013 real gesunken. Ab 2013 ist demgegenüber wieder eine Trendwende zu beobachten. Viele europäische Länder haben die Gehälter den Lebenshaltungskosten angepasst. Einige osteuropäische Länder (Bulgarien, Estland, Ungarn, Slowakei) haben die Gehälter der Lehrpersonen auch im Rahmen von Reformen angehoben, um den Beruf attraktiver zu machen.“
Martina Brägger, LCH Arbeitszeiterhebung 2019 (AZE’19) (2020), S. 23.

„According to the TALIS survey, only 18% of teachers think that the teaching profession is valued by society. Therefore, strengthening the teaching profession has been an important priority of governments in recent years. Several countries have been raising teacher salaries (Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia) and increased budgets (Finland, Denmark) to address teacher shortages.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Education and Training Monitor 2020 (2020), S. 13.

„In Estonia, France and Finland, schools are generally allowed to use admissions criteria. For example, in Finland, schools with certain subject specialisations (but still following the same national curriculum) can set admissions criteria to assess students’ disposition or aptitude for certain subjects.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Equity in school education in Europe (2020), S. 103.

„In Estonia, schools are allowed to arrange school-based tests, but these are optional. Most of the schools select students based on previous academic results and hold interviews with student candidates to establish their interests, attitudes and learning motivation.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Equity in school education in Europe (2020), S. 133.

„In 2018, Estonian students achieved the highest scores in science and reading from all participating countries, and only students from Korea and Japan managed to score higher in mathematics.“
OECD (Hrsg.), Strengthening the Governance of Skills Systems (2020), S. 40.

„The prevalence of lifetime use of tranquillisers or sedatives without a doctor’s prescription was generally stable across years in the large majority of ESPAD countries. Between 2015 and 2019, a significant decrease in prevalence was observed in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia and North Macedonia. In contrast, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia showed a significant increase in prevalence over the same time period.“
The ESPAD Group (Hrsg.), ESPAD Report 2019 (2020), S. 97.

„Kroatien ist jenes Land, in dem die Schüler/innen mit Migrationshintergrund am häufigsten zu Hause überwiegend die Testsprache sprechen. Bemerkenswert ist, dass dies dort auf neun von zehn Schülerinnen und Schülern (92 %) zutrifft, gefolgt von Estland mit einem ähnlich hohen Gesamtanteil von 87 %. In Österreich spricht gut ein Viertel (26 %) der Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund zu Hause überwiegend Deutsch.“
BIFIE (Hrsg.), „PISA 2018. Grundkompetenzen am Ende der Pflichtschulzeit im internationalen Vergleich“ (2019), S. 76

„Language barriers play an important role in migrant integration. Many countries have taken measures to improve migrants’ language skills, including Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Norway, Greece and Estonia.“
OECD (Hrsg.), International Migration Outlook 2019 (2019), S. 92.

PISA 2018: „Chronic truancy and, to a lesser extent, lateness have such adverse effects on learning that school systems around the globe are constantly devising strategies to tackle them. […] The countries and economies where fewer students had skipped a whole day of school were also the countries/economies with higher average reading performance, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (China), Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Korea, Macao (China), Singapore, Sweden and Chinese Taipei.“
OECD (Hrsg.), „PISA 2018 Results. What School Life Means for Students’ Lives“ (2019), S. 76

„Across all countries with a relatively large proportion of immigrant students, segregation of immigrant students across schools is the most prevalent in Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malta, Panama, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.“
OECD (Hrsg.), „PISA 2018 Results. Where All Students Can Succeed“ (2019), S. 178

PISA 2018: „Immigrant students in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lebanon and Sweden were more than twice as likely as their non-immigrant peers to score below proficiency Level 2 in reading, even after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile.“
OECD (Hrsg.), „PISA 2018 Results. Where All Students Can Succeed“ (2019), S. 186

„The average library size in Norway was 212 and in Sweden it was 210, in contrast to 192 in Denmark and 162 in Finland. Estonians grew up with 218 books on average and the Czechs with 204.“
Dr. Joanna Sikora u. a., „Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies“. In: „Social Science Research“ 77 (2019), S. 6
In Österreichs Haushalten gab es im Mittel nur 131 Bücher.

„Estonia is unusual in having higher poverty and material deprivation rates for households without children than for those with children.“

James Browne u.a., „Faces of Joblessness in Estonia“ (2018), S. 11

„Estonia is […] exceptional in terms of the long duration of parental benefits, which can be received for a further 435 days, and also at 100 % of the previous wage. […] Estonia has the most generous system of maternity and parental benefits in the OECD in terms of the number of full-weeks’ pay covered.“

James Browne u.a., „Faces of Joblessness in Estonia“ (2018), S. 25

Estland: „Estonia is among OECD and partner countries having the lowest number of teaching hours per year.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Education at a Glance 2018. Country Note Estonia“ (2018), S. 1

Estland: „Overall, teachers’ working conditions in Estonia include small class sizes, low student-teacher ratios and less teaching time than on average across OECD countries. Except at the pre-primary level, Estonia has some of the shortest teaching hours per year among OECD and partner countries, and they have fallen in recent years.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Education at a Glance 2018. Country Note Estonia“ (2018), S. 3

Europas PISA-Sieger Estland: „In secondary education, teachers’ salaries have undergone the largest increases among OECD countries with available data, with lower and upper secondary teachers’ salaries increasing by 51 % between 2011

and 2016.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Education at a Glance 2018. Country Note Estonia“ (2018), S. 3f

„As a percentage of total public expenditure, education spending in 2015 stood (on average) at 10.3 %; Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were the only three countries that devoted over 15 % of their budget to education.“

EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), „Education and Training Monitor 2017“ (2017), S. 46

Österreichs Politik war das Bildungswesen nur 9,6 % des Budgets wert. (Quelle: ibidem, S. 47

„The prevalence of bullying varies considerably across Europe. Lithuania, Belgium, Estonia, Austria and Latvia are some of the countries with relatively high victimisation rates between around 20 % and 30 %, compared to the lower rates of Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy and Spain below 10 %.“

NESET (Hrsg.), „How to Prevent and Tackle Bullying and School Violence“ (2017), S. 6

„In almost all countries (except Austria, Estonia and Greece), immigrants who have lived in the host country for more than five years are more proficient in literacy than those who have recently arrived. The difference between the two groups is particularly marked in the Nordic countries, where many immigrants need time to acquire language skills, and where comprehensive integration policies will have helped immigrants who have stayed in the country for longer to overcome any initial difficulties.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Why are immigrants less proficient in literacy than native-born adults?“ (2017), S. 3

„High-education rates among migrants are highest, even above those for natives, in countries that receive highly educated migrants — whether traditionally, such as the UK, or more recently, such as IE (Anm.: Irland) or CY (Anm.: Zypern). To a lesser extent, education levels among migrants in CZ (Anm.: Tschechien) and EE (Anm.: Estland) are also higher than among natives.“

EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), „Educational outcomes and immigrant background“ (2016), S. 27

„While 15 year-olds in Estonia do very well in international assessments, the percentage of students who feel happy at school, however, is one of the lowest among OECD countries.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „OECD Reviews of School Resources – Estonia“ (2016), S. 65

Estland: „Privately-run schools receive public funding on the same terms as public schools and can also charge tuition fees. They can also return profits to owners. The decision to provide private schools with public funds is designed to increase the amount of school choice in the education system.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „OECD Reviews of School Resources – Estonia“ (2016), S. 120

Estland: „In 2013-14, the average primary class had 18.4 students, the average lower secondary class had 17.9 students and the average upper secondary class had 23.9 students.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „OECD Reviews of School Resources – Estonia“ (2016), S. 166

„In the PISA 2012 sample, 37 % of 15-year-old Estonian students were in a school that always considered students’ records of academic performance for admission to the school, which is around the OECD average of 39 %.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „OECD Reviews of School Resources – Estonia“ (2016), S. 168

Estland: „More than one in three 15 year-olds are in an academically selective school whose principal reported that at least students’ records of academic performance or recommendations of feeder schools is always considered for admission.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „OECD Reviews of School Resources – Estonia“ (2016), S. 64

Estland: „Most schools provide a rich offer of extracurricular activities in the large majority of municipalities.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „OECD Reviews of School Resources – Estonia“ (2016), S. 81

„A large share of young adults with tertiary education are now also at risk of ending up in NEET status. In countries such as Estonia, Greece and Italy around one-fifth of young people with a tertiary education degree are NEETs.“

Eurofound (Hrsg.), „Recent policy developments related to those not in employment, education and training (NEETs)“ (2012), S. 3

„Only in four countries (Czech Republic, England, Estonia and Finland) are primary schools allowed to be selective academically.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „School Choice and Equity“ (2012), S. 15

„Apprenticeship schemes have been recently (re)introduced in Denmark, Estonia and Sweden.“

Cedefop (Hrsg.), „Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work: Lessons from across Europe“ (2010), S. 123