Number of working people of retirement age has doubled in Estonia in 10 years

TALLINN – According to the results of the 2021 population and housing census, as at the end of 2021, one in five people of retirement age in Estonia were participating in the workforce, which is two times as much as a decade ago.

A total of 272,164 people aged 65 and older live in Estonia. Eighty percent of them are in retirement, whereas one in five, or 51,196 people in total, are working. Ten rears ago, the ratio of people over 65 participating in the workforce was twice as low, with 10 percent of people aged 65 and over participating in the workforce at that time.

Men make up only 35 percent of all residents aged 65 and older in Estonia. Of the seniors in employment, men make up 43 percent. Although there are more women than men among senior residents, there are more men who are working in retirement. Similar to the general indicator for working-age employed persons, there are more women among employees of retirement age and more men among entrepreneurs. 

Of all people aged 65 and over participating in the workforce, 89 percent are in paid employment in their main job and the remaining 11 percent are active as entrepreneurs. Only 3.6 percent of all people of working age participating in the workforce are engaged full-time as entrepreneurs. While a slightly higher proportion of working-age entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs with employees, 71 percent of older entrepreneurs engage in business alone or with family.