ABSTRACT
The chapter analyses recent developments of the Estonian social protection model. Five main social policy domains are reviewed: old-age policy, labour market and unemployment policy, disability, health care policy, and family policy and childcare. The chapter concludes that despite generally low coverage of social protection, the government is still mostly responsible for providing social security either directly or via half-independent social agencies and funds with a majority of insurance schemes using solidarity principles in distribution. The share of means-tested schemes is very low. The economic performance of Estonia during the last ten years has been impressive and has positively affected social policy. The system itself has become more mature, and regular amendments have made it more complicated in many cases, while also allowing more flexibility and sustainability. The current state of different social policy domains is diverse. For example, Estonia has a rather well-established family policy and a practically absent housing policy.
