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Estonia's family benefits are designed to partly cover the costs that families incur whilst caring for, raising and educating their children.
There are a number of ways in which families with children are supported, the two most common of which are family allowances and tax incentives.
There are 10 types of family benefits:
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childbirth allowance;
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child allowance;
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child care allowance;
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single parent's child allowance;
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conscript's child allowance;
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child's school allowance;
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child allowance for a child under guardianship or foster care;
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start in independent life allowance;
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adoption allowance;
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parent's allowance for families with seven or more children.
The state pays family benefits to all children until they reach the age of 16. Children enrolled in basic or secondary schools or vocational education institutions, operating on the basis of basic education, have the right to receive family benefits until the age of 19.
Tax incentives are offered to families with children in two different ways.
1. People living in Estonia can deduct the costs of educating their children or children in their care up to the age of 26 from their annual income (including interest on study loans).
2. One of the parents of a child (or a person providing for a child) can deduct additional tax-free income from income for the period of taxation for every child up to the age of 17, starting from the second child in the family.
As one of its measures promoting the national birth rate, the state partially annuls the study loans of graduates of vocational and higher education institutions who are raising small children.
Additional information
Ministry of Social Affairs: http://www.sm.ee
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