Vocational education enrolments up by 3.7 %

Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) data¹ show that in the 2024/2025 school year vocational education enrolments reached 28.6 thousand, which is 3.7 % (1 017 students) more than a year ago.

This year’s enrolment growth was supported by fewer students being expelled – down by 17.1 % (947 students) compared to the 2023/2024 school year. The sharpest rise since 2014 was recorded in science² programmes, where number of students increased by 445.

Most students entered engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes

The number of new entrants in vocational education programmes totalled 10.8 thousand in 2024 – a slight decrease of 1.3 % (139 students) compared to the preceding year. Consistent with previous years, the proportion of men exceeded that of women – men accounted for 56.7 % of new entrants (6 149) while women for 43.3 % (4 687).

Engineering, manufacturing and construction, with 4.2 thousand new entrants (39.4 % of all entrants) as well as services³, with 2.3 thousand new entrants (21.2 %), were the most popular fields of education.

The most popular programmes in the engineering, manufacturing and construction field were mechanical engineering (25.8 %), building, construction and civil engineering (22.9 %), as well as mechanics and metal trades (16.6 %). The majority of new entrants in the services field chose hotel and catering services programmes (55.4 %) as well as beauty treatment services programmes (19.6 %).

Science programmes saw the highest rise in new entrants over the past decade (up by 445 students), highlighting the growing importance of technology and innovation. At the same time, the most notable decreases can be observed in social sciences programmes and services programmes – of 709 and 872 new entrants, respectively.

In 2024, women represented the greatest proportion new entrants in health and welfare programmes (90.0 %) as well as social sciences, business and law programmes (77.6 %). Men, however, made up the majority of new entrants in science programmes (85.2 %) and engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes (83.3 %).

The mean  age of new entrants was 19.3 years. The bulk of them – 85.2 % – were aged 20 or under, followed by 5.6 % aged 21–30, and 2.2 % aged 50 and over. More than half of new entrants entered vocational education institutions immediately after completing lower secondary education, at the age of 16.

Engineering, manufacturing and construction chosen by one in three students, services by one in five; growing interest in agriculture programmes

Engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes (10.4 thousand students, totalling 36.2 %) and services programmes (5.9 thousand students, representing 20.8 %) consistently have the highest vocational education enrolments every year. Meanwhile, health and welfare programmes (829 students, 2.9 %) as well as agriculture programmes (1.6 thousand students, 5.5 %) have the lowest enrolments.

The most significant increases in enrolments, compared to the previous school year, were recorded in agriculture programmes (up by 125 students, 8.6 %) and in engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes (up by 580 students, 2.8 %). Even though the number of students rose in almost all fields of education, enrolments in social sciences, business and law programmes decreased slightly – by 23 students (1.1 %). Interestingly, the number of women in these programmes went down by 3.2 % (54 students) while the number of men went up by 7.3 % (31 students).

Of all students, 91.5 % (26.2 thousand) enrolled in upper secondary vocational education programmes, 8.1 % (2.3 thousand) in post-secondary non-tertiary programmes, and 0.4 % in lower secondary education programmes.

Gender proportions across fields of education remain stable, with a slight rise in men enrolling in health and welfare programmes

Men make up the majority of vocational education enrolments – 16.3 thousand students (57.1 %), while women account for 12.3 thousand (42.9 %). Compared to the previous school year, the share of women in vocational education rose by 0.5 percentage points. The proportion of women reached its lowest point – 39.8 % – in 2010 and has grown overall since then.

More than half of men (52.8 %, 8.6 thousand students) are studying engineering, manufacturing and construction, with the second greatest proportion enrolled in science programmes (18.3 %, 2.9 thousand students). However, with just 69 students (0.4 % of all men in vocational education), health and social welfare programmes are the least popular among men. Still, the figure is slightly higher than in 2023, when 44 men (0.3 %) enrolled in these programmes.

Women most commonly enrol in services programmes (mainly hotel, restaurant and beauty services), chosen by 31.9 % of female students (3.9 thousand). More than a quarter of women (27.3 %, 3.3 thousand) have chosen humanities and arts programmes, followed by the second largest share (14.2 %, 1.7 thousand) in engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes, and the third largest (13.1 %, 1.6 thousand) in social sciences, business and law programmes.

Decline in new entrants in recent years results in fewer graduates in 2024

The number of vocational education graduates totalled 5.6 thousand in 2024, which is 4.4 % (259 students) fewer than in the preceding year. The number of graduates shows a declining trend, having fallen by more than a third (36.3 %, 3.2 thousand students) over the past decade. One in three students (32.7 %, totalling 1.8 thousand) graduated from engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes and one in five (20.4 %, totalling 1.1 thousand) from services programmes.

In the 2024/2025 school year, 52 vocational education institutions offered lower secondary and upper secondary vocational education programmes – 40 lower secondary education institutions, 9 colleges, and 3 upper secondary education institutions. A third (34.5 %) of all enrolments are concentrated in the six largest educational institutions: Riga State Technical School, Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Technical School, Ogre Technical School, Latgale Industrial Technical School, Riga Technical College, and Liepaja State Technical School. Total enrolments exceed one thousand in just seven vocational education institutions, 22 institutions have more than five hundred students, and 17 institutions have fewer than two hundred students.

Methodological information

¹ Vocational education statistics is produced based on the data of the Ministry of Education and Science and CSB.

² The science field of education includes life sciences (biology, biochemistry, excluding clinical and veterinary sciences), physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, computing.

³ The services field of education includes: personal services (hotel and catering, travel and tourism, sports and leisure, hairdressing, beauty treatment, and other personal services: cleaning, laundry, dry-cleaning, cosmetic services, domestic science), transport services, environmental protection services, security services (protection of property and persons: police work and related law enforcement, criminology, fire-protection and fire-fighting, civil security; military).

Media requests:
Public Relations Section
E-mail: media@csp.gov.lv
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More information on data:
Annika Gēgermane
Social Statistics Methodology Section
E-mail: Annika.Gegermane@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366687