The ranking holds 14 schools in Latvia with an international accreditation or an authorised programme. IB programmes at 11 of them. Cambridge, IGCSE and A-Level, at 3. A preschool section at 7. A year of school costs from €5 040 to €20 400.
3 schools publish a monthly fee rather than a yearly one and do not say how many payments they charge over a school year. We count such a year as ten payments: that is the number charged by the schools that do state it, and that is how long the school year runs in most countries of the ranking.
The median fee for a year of school in Latvia is $12 082. That is 15th for affordability out of 26 countries in the ranking. A comparison only means anything at a single exchange rate, so every figure is converted to dollars from one weekly snapshot.
| Country | Median a year | Schools | With an IB programme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paraguay | $4 622 | 9 | 56% |
| Tajikistan | $4 996 | 13 | 0% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | $5 162 | 9 | 33% |
| Kyrgyzstan | $6 324 | 27 | 7% |
| Uzbekistan | $6 525 | 47 | 19% |
| Chile | $7 498 | 58 | 64% |
| Georgia | $7 897 | 29 | 17% |
| Azerbaijan | $8 824 | 28 | 36% |
| Lithuania | $9 874 | 38 | 53% |
| Kazakhstan | $10 026 | 89 | 26% |
| Armenia | $10 295 | 15 | 33% |
| Argentina | $10 297 | 209 | 27% |
| Cyprus | $11 501 | 39 | 28% |
| Uruguay | $11 638 | 35 | 31% |
| Latvia | $12 082 | 14 | 79% |
| UAE | $13 043 | 412 | 15% |
| Estonia | $13 052 | 6 | 100% |
| Montenegro | $13 313 | 9 | 33% |
| Croatia | $14 115 | 16 | 56% |
| Serbia | $15 101 | 22 | 27% |
| Thailand | $15 601 | 209 | 20% |
| Brazil | $16 855 | 198 | 48% |
| Vietnam | $17 566 | 144 | 17% |
| Slovenia | $20 121 | 11 | 82% |
| Turkey | $20 469 | 245 | 46% |
| Israel | $29 188 | 15 | 40% |
The median is steadier than the average: one school charging three times the rest does not shift it. It is taken from the top of a school's fee range, that is from the senior stage, which is what families budget for. Free state schools are left out of the median, or it would stop answering the question of what you pay.
| Cheapest | $5 855 a year | King's College Latvia |
| Median | $12 082 a year | top of the fee range at 8 schools with a published fee |
| Most expensive | $23 699 a year | International School of Latvia |
| Free | 5 schools | Jelgavas Spīdolas Valsts ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 1. ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 3. ģimnāzija, Ogres tehnikums, Rīgas Valsts 2. ģimnāzija |
Figures are converted to dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish their fees in their own currency. One-off charges, meals, transport and uniform are not included unless the school says otherwise. Fees for schools in Latvia are taken from published price lists, not from what third parties say.
93 % of schools in Latvia name a fee on their own site (13 of 14). Across the whole ranking of 1946 schools it is 40 %. We read every school's site and worked out what schools write instead of a sum, and why openness follows the country and the network rather than the school: the study of school fees →
9 of the 14 schools in the ranking are private. The other 5 are state schools, set out below. The type of school does not affect the score: private and state schools sit in one list and are scored by the same formula, and only verifiable data moves the number.
5 schools in Latvia teach an international programme with no tuition fee: Jelgavas Spīdolas Valsts ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 1. ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 3. ģimnāzija, Ogres tehnikums, Rīgas Valsts 2. ģimnāzija. On value for money such schools get the top score, because they sit outside the price range altogether.
5 schools with an international accreditation are funded by the state: Jelgavas Spīdolas Valsts ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 1. ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 3. ģimnāzija, Ogres tehnikums, Rīgas Valsts 2. ģimnāzija. Admission to these schools is usually competitive, and tuition is free or markedly cheaper than at a private school. In the ranking they stand alongside private schools and are scored on the same nine criteria.
Schools in Latvia with an IB programme (11): Exupery International School, International School of Latvia, Jelgavas Spīdolas Valsts ģimnāzija, King's College Latvia, Rīgas Valsts 1. ģimnāzija, International School of Riga, International School Premjers, Rīgas Valsts 3. ģimnāzija, International Montessori School of Latvia, Ogres tehnikums, Rīgas Valsts 2. ģimnāzija. 3 of them run the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP. Authorisation is confirmed against the International Baccalaureate register.
The British Cambridge programme - IGCSE and A-Level - is taught at 3 schools in Latvia: Exupery International School, King's College Latvia, RTU International School of Science and Technology.
A facility counts only when the school names it outright on its own site: a modern campus is not a swimming pool. Boarding: 2 schools · School transport: 2 schools.
Comparing schools on a single feature is useless: the most expensive is not the best, and a famous name says nothing about what is backed by documents. The score is therefore built from nine criteria with different weights - from academic programmes and accreditation to facilities, clubs and fees relative to other schools in the country.
A criterion counts towards the score only when there is verifiable data behind it. That is why every score says how many of the nine criteria were counted: at schools in Latvia that is 7.9 out of 9 on average. A school with a detailed site and a school with no site cannot earn an equally reliable score, and that is shown rather than hidden.
Ratings and reviews from Google Maps, Yandex Maps and 2GIS are not used: their terms forbid aggregation. Only verified reviews left here count. Full methodology →
The ranking holds 14 schools with an international accreditation or an authorised programme: Riga - 9, Piņķi - 3, Jelgava - 1, Ogre - 1. Every school says where its accreditation came from: found in a public register, confirmed by a document from the school, or claimed by the school with nothing behind it. We do not hide a claim, but it does not go into the score.
The median fee in Latvia is $12 082 a year. That is 15th for affordability out of 26 countries in the ranking. Cheaper: Paraguay, Tajikistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Chile, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Argentina, Cyprus, Uruguay. The comparison only holds inside one year: all fees are converted into dollars at one weekly rate.
Yes, 5: Jelgavas Spīdolas Valsts ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 1. ģimnāzija, Rīgas Valsts 3. ģimnāzija, Ogres tehnikums, Rīgas Valsts 2. ģimnāzija. These are state schools where the international programme runs with no tuition fee. They stand in the ranking on equal terms with private ones.
We look the school up in the public register of the organisation itself. There are ten such registers today: International Baccalaureate, Cambridge International, CIS, NEASC, COBIS, AEFE, MSA (Middle States Association), Cognia, Pearson Edexcel and the network of German schools abroad. The list grows with the geography of the ranking: a new country usually has an organisation of its own. An accreditation found in a register is marked green and goes into the score. One confirmed only by a document from the school is yellow, and weighs less. One claimed in words is red, and the school's accreditation score is then the lowest. Membership of a network or an association is counted apart: a school joins a network, but earns an accreditation, so membership weighs one step lower. That is why a school calling itself international and a school standing in the ranking are two different things.