Tanel Kiik

Tanel Kiik (born 23 January 1989)^[1] is an Estonian politician and former cabinet minister. After being an advisor, Kiik was Minister of Social Affairs from 2019 to 2021. In the government of Kaja Kallas, he became Minister of Health and Labour from 2021 to 2022, and was then Deputy Mayor of Tallinn. In 2023, he became a member of the Riigikogu, but left the Centre Party in 2024 for the Estonian Social Democratic Party.

Tanel Kiik
Tanel Kiik in 2021
Minister of Health and Labour
In office 26 January 2021 – 3 June 2022
Prime Minister	Kaja Kallas
Preceded by	Himself as Minister of Social Affairs
Succeeded by	Peep Peterson
Minister of Social Affairs
In office 29 April 2019 – 26 January 2021
Prime Minister	Jüri Ratas
Preceded by	Riina Sikkut (as Minister of Health and Labour)
Succeeded by	Office split into Minister of Health and Labour and Minister of Social Protection
Member of the Riigikogu
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 April 2023
Deputy Mayor of Tallinn
In office 9 September 2022 – 9 April 2023
Personal details
Born	(1989-01-23) 23 January 1989 (age 36) Tallinn, Estonia
Political party	Estonian Social Democratic Party (2024–present)
Other political affiliations	Centre Party (2018–2024)
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Tartu

Early and personal life

Kiik was born on 23 January 1989.^[1] He is the son of art historian Helena Risthein and organist and organ maintainer Tiit Kiik.^[2] His grandfather was also an electrical engineer named Endel Risthein.^[2]

Kiik speaks Estonian, English, and German.^[1] He is married to Marii Kiik, and together they have two children.^[3] One daughter, Evita, was born in 2018, and they had a son named Lukas Tobias in 2025.^[3]

Political career

In the years 2012–2016, Tanel Kiik was an advisor to Jüri Ratas in the Riigikogu and in the years 2016–2019, he was the head of Prime Minister Jüri Ratas's office in the State Chancellery.^[4]

He served as Minister of Social Affairs in the second cabinet of Jüri Ratas.^[1][5]

In the cabinet of Kaja Kallas, his office was split into Minister of Health and Labour and Minister of Social Protection.^[6] Kiik was appointed as Minister of Health and Labour and Signe Riisalo was appointed as Minister of Social Protection.^[6]

In 2023, Kiik ran to be leader of the Centre Party. He received 489 votes (46.75%) at the party's special conference in Paide, being defeated by Mihhail Kõlvart who won 543 votes (51.91%).^[7]

On 5 January 2024, Kiik and three other members (Ester Karuse, Jaak Aab and Andre Hanimägi) of the serving Riigikogu announced their departure from the Centre Party and joined the Estonian Social Democratic Party.^[8]