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County – specified by the location of the school.
Region – location of the school at the time of the study defined based on NUTS 3, a level of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS; French: Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques). NUTS is a standard for referencing subdivisions of the member countries of the European Union and it consists of a hierarchy of three levels: NUTS 1, 2 and 3, corresponding to the largest, medium and smallest subdivisions. In Estonia, NUTS 3 regions include the following counties:
Size of caterer – divided into three groups according to the volume of catering:
Size of school – defined by the number of students at the beginning of the 2024/25 school year:
Type of settlement – location of the school at the time of the study and classified into three divisions according to the classification of Estonian administrative and settlement distribution (EHAK 2021v3) compiled by Statistics Estonia: 1) city settlement region, 2) town settlement region, 3) rural settlement region.
The aim of “A study of school lunch, satisfaction with its consumption and provision, and students' eating habits and opportunities during school days” was to analyse the satisfaction of the main parties involved in school lunch with the school lunch provided in schools and its provision, and the students' school lunch consumption habits, as well as to obtain an overview of students' eating habits at school and at places offering food on the way to and from school.
The sub-objectives of the study were
a) to obtain an overview of students' satisfaction with school lunch and the reasons for dissatisfaction
b) to identify factors influencing satisfaction with school lunch
c) to obtain an overview of students', school principals' and caterers' satisfaction with the provision and eating of school lunch (including the price of school lunch, the mode and time of provision, the amount of food students eat, etc.)
d) to obtain an overview of the eating options available to students beside of school lunch at school or in the school surroundings, their consumption and the reasons for their consumption.
The sample for the study was based on all Estonian general education schools (n=486) as of September 2024. It was important to include at least five schools from each county to ensure representativeness across the country. It was decided to exclude schools with special educational needs (n=37), adult upper secondary schools (n=9), English-medium schools (n=5), small schools with 50 or fewer students (n=58) and state upper secondary schools without a 12th grade (n=3). A total of 172 schools were included in the sample, which constituted 46% of general education schools.
To form the sample, general education schools were initially divided by county and the number and proportion of educational institutions in each county were examined. Then, schools were stratified according to proportional distribution by settlement units (city, town and rural settlement) and the size of the caterer (small, medium and large). The number of schools obtained had to be included from each stratum. The inclusion of schools in the stratum was carried out on the basis of random selection according to the proportional distribution of school levels in the sample. When forming the random sample, it was ensured that the sample was balanced in terms of municipal, state and private schools and that schools with multiple school buildings in different territories were also included. If a school refused to participate in the study, another school was found in its place based on a random selection. When recruiting replacement schools, it was ensured that, if possible, the proportional distribution by county and in the same stratum was maintained. The resulting sample is representative across the country and can be extended to the whole of Estonia.
The study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the National Institute for Health Development (decision no. 1378 issued on Oct 3rd 2024).
The study was conducted from 15.10.2024 to 19.01.2025. As part of the study, students from grades 3, 6, 9 and 12, school principal and catering representatives were interviewed simultaneously. For each school building in each school, one management and one catering questionnaire had to be completed in the Limesurvey webpage. From the sampled school buildings, a maximum of two regular parallel classes from grades 3, 6, 9 and 12 had to participate in the study, regardless of the size of the school. The school could decide for itself which class sets it would include in the study. Students completed anonymously electronic questionnaires (in Estonian or Russian) mostly during school lessons, older students had the opportunity to fill questionnaires at home. If a parent did not want their underage child to participate in this study, they had to inform the class teacher. Participation in the study was voluntary for students and the completion of the questionnaire could be interrupted at any time. Before filling out the questionnaire, it was emphasized that there were no right or wrong answers to the questionnaire questions, which students should ask others or observe from others, but had to express their own opinion.
168 general education schools with 181 school buildings participated in the study. According to the data of the Estonian Education Information System on 11.11.2024, there were a total of 22,123 students in the sample, and 10,347 of them participated in the study. The results of the students in the tables are expressed in percentages, those of caterers and school principals in absolute numbers.
A similar study “Nutritional habits of schoolchildren and satisfaction with school food” was conducted in 2012 by OÜ Eesti Uuringukeskus on behalf of the National Institute for Health Development, but since changes have occurred in catering in the intervening years and the questions and methodology in the survey questionnaire were changed, it is not possible to reflect earlier results in the tables.
Code ".." in datatables indicates non-disclosure – If the number of respondents in the respective group is less than 30, the result will not be published.
Natalja Pajula
Department of Research Data Management
National Institute for Health Development
E-mail: natalja.pajula[at]tai.ee
Tagli Pitsi
Department of Nutrition and Exercise
National Institute for Health Development
E-mail: tagli.pitsi[at]tai.ee
Renewed: 15.12.2025