RIGR2601
Most vocational education students entered engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes in 2025
Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) data show that the number of new entrants in vocational education totalled 10.3 thousand in the 2025/2026 school year. Engineering, manufacturing and construction recorded the largest number of entrants – 4.1 thousand (39.6 % of all new entrants).
The most popular programmes in the engineering, manufacturing and construction field were mechanical engineering (26.3 %), building, construction and civil engineering (21.4 %), as well as mechanics and metal trades (16.4 %).
Services programmes, such as hotel and catering services, travel and tourism services, sports and leisure services, personal services, transport services, environmental protection services, security services, etc., recorded the second largest number of new entrants (2.2 thousand entrants or 21.9 % of the total number). The majority of new entrants in the services field were enrolled in hotel and catering services programmes (55.5 %) as well as beauty treatment services programmes (19.6 %).
Engineering, manufacturing and construction recorded the largest increase in new entrants over the past decade (up by 5.7 percentage points or 309 students compared with 2015). Science programmes, such life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, computing, also saw growth, with the new entrant number rising by 2.9 percentage points or 253 students.
At the same time, the sharpest declines were recorded in social sciences, business and law (down by 6.5 percentage points or 759 students compared with 2015), as well as in services (down by 5.5 percentage points or 783 students).
* Services 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).
** Science includes life sciences (biology, biochemistry, excluding clinical and veterinary sciences), physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, computing.
The number of new entrants in vocational education has declined by 5 % or 586 students compared with 2015. Men made up more than half of all new entrants (56.7 % or 5 810 students), and women accounted for 43.3 % (4 440 students).
Men represented the greatest proportion of new entrants in science programmes (89.1 %) as well as engineering, manufacturing and construction (83.2 %). Women, however, made up the majority of new entrants in health and welfare (89.9 %) as well as humanities and arts (74.2 %).
The mean age of new entrants was 19.5 years, with the majority aged 20 or under (84.7 %). More than half of new entrants (52.7 %) were enrolled in vocational education institutions immediately after completing lower secondary education, at the age of 16.
Nine in ten vocational students study at upper secondary level
Most students (26.5 thousand or 92.0 %) study at upper secondary level, followed by 7.6 % (2.2 thousand) at post-secondary non-tertiary level, and 0.4 % (105 students) at lower secondary level.
In the 2025/2026 school year, 53 vocational education institutions offered programmes at lower and upper secondary level, including 40 vocational schools, 10 colleges, and 3 secondary schools. A third (34.8 %) of all students study at the six largest vocational education institutions: Riga State Technical School, Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Technical School, Ogre Technical School, Riga Technical College, Liepaja State Technical School, and Latgale Industrial Technical School. Only seven of the institutions have more than thousand students, 13 have more than five hundred students, and 18 have fewer than two hundred students.
* Services 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).
** Science includes life sciences (biology, biochemistry, excluding clinical and veterinary sciences), physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, computing.
Over the past decade, engineering, manufacturing and construction (with 10.7 thousand students, 37.3 % of all students) and services (with 6.1 thousand, 21.2 %) have consistently recorded the highest vocational education enrolments. Meanwhile, health and welfare (0.8 thousand, 2.9 %) as well as agriculture (1.5 thousand, 5.4 %) have had the lowest student numbers.
Men account for more than half of all vocational education students
Men constitute the majority of vocational education students – 16.5 thousand (57.4 %), while women account for 12.3 thousand (42.6 %). Compared with the previous school year, the number of men in vocational education increased by 195, whereas the number of women decreased by 24.
Most men in vocational education (54.1 % or 8.9 thousand students) study engineering, manufacturing and construction, followed by science (17.5 % or 2.9 thousand). Health and welfare programmes are the least popular among men, with just 73 students (0.4 % of all men in vocational education), followed by social sciences, business and law (445 students or 2.7 %).
More than half of women study either services (32.9 % or 4.0 thousand) or humanities and arts (26.7 % or 3.3 thousand). The lowest shares of women are recorded in science (3.0 % or 364 students) and agriculture (4.5 % or 556 students).
2025 1 recorded 6.2 thousand vocational education graduates
Compared with 2024, the number of vocational education graduates reduced by 9.8 % or 554 students. One in three students (32.3 % or 2.0 thousand) graduated from engineering, manufacturing and construction. Services follow with 1.2 thousand graduates (19.2 %) and humanities and arts with 1.0 thousand graduates (15.6 %).
Additional vocational education statistics and reference metadata are available in the official statistics portal Vocational education section.
Methodological information
The statistics cover all economically active vocational education institutions and higher education institutions that offer vocational programmes at upper secondary level. These include state, municipal or private institutions registered in the State Education Information System (managed by the Ministry of Education and Science).
1 From 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025.
Media requests:
Public Relations Section
E-pasts: media@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 27880666
More information on the data:
Social Statistics Methodology Section
Annika Gēgermane
E-mail: Annika.Gegermane@csp.gov.lv
Phone: + 371 67366936
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