Population

The purpose of the statistical activity is to provide information on the composition, changes, and regional distribution of the population. This information is needed for state governance and research that supports decision-making.

Administrative data process

Population number, structure and distribution: the size of the population, its age, sex, and ethnic composition, as well as its distribution across regions;
main population indicators: births, deaths, natural increase, net migration, life expectancy;
population projections: forecasts of population development based on trends in birth rates, mortality, and migration

Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages (ISO 639-2) (more information: Classification of Languages (2020));

International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-2011) (more information: National Standard Classification of Education (2011));

International Standard Codes for the Representation of the Names of Countries (ISO 3166) (more information: Classification of countries and territories (2021));

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2021) (more information: Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics);

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK) (more information: Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements);

Classification of Ethnicities (more information: Classification of Ethnicities (2013)).

Statistics Estonia manages classifications in accordance with the Official Statistics Act. The statistical classifications maintained by Statistics Estonia and used in the production of official statistics are available in Statistics Estonia's Classifications Portal.

Not applicable

Age – the age of the person in full years at the time of the event, i.e. the age at last birthday. The age of children under 1 year of age is 0 years.

Citizenship – a permanent legal relationship between a person and the country that he or she is a citizen of. Citizenship is acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, choice, marriage, or other means according to national legislation.

Country of permanent residence – the country where a person has continuously lived for at least 12 months, or where the person intends to live for at least 12 months

Country of birth – mother’s country of residence at the time of the child’s birth. For foreign-born, the country of birth is indicated by the state border at the time of survey. Persons born before 1945 in Pechory county or the former territory of the Republic of Estonia east of the Narva River were considered to be born in Estonia.

Educational level (educational attainment) – the highest level of education that an person has completed in the formal education system (general education school, vocational school, or university). Educational attainment is presented in accordance with the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011).

Emigration – a person's departure from the place of residence; in the case of external migration, a person's departure from Estonia and settlement abroad; in the case of internal migration, a person's departure from one administrative unit, settlement unit, or settlement region in Estonia to another

Ethnic nationality – a person's belonging to an ethnic group based on self-determination of the person. A child’s ethnic nationality is determined by the parents; if a child’s (aged 0–17) ethnic nationality is not available in the population register, the mother’s ethnic nationality is assigned to the child.

Immigration – the arrival of a person at a place of residence. In the case of external migration, arrival in Estonia from a foreign country; in the case of internal migration, arrival from an administrative unit, settlement unit or settlement region in Estonia.

Legal marital status – persons aged 15 years and over are divided by (legal) marital status as follows:
- never been legally married – a person who has never been legally married;
- legally married – a person whose marriage is legal and has not terminated due to spouse’s death or divorce; A person can also be legally married if he or she does not live with the spouse. Only a marriage between a man and a woman is considered legal in this context;
- divorced – a person whose (previous) legal marriage terminated due to registration of divorce and who has not entered into a new legal marriage;
- widowed – a person whose (previous) legal marriage terminated due to death of the spouse (incl. being declared dead in court) and who has not entered into a new legal marriage.

Life expectancy – the mean additional number of years that a person of a given age can expect to live, if subjected throughout the rest of his or her life to the current mortality conditions. At the age of 0 – the life expectancy at birth (see also the definition of “life table”).

Life table – a numerical model (table of numerical values of age-dependent functions) which measures through interrelated indicators the mortality level in a certain period

Migration – change of place of residence from one unit to another. In migration, a distinction is made between moves from one country to another, one county to another, across borders of urban settlements within municipality and across borders of settlement regions.

Mean annual population – arithmetic mean of the population number at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year (beginning of the next year), rounded to a whole number. Used in the calculation of rates associated with vital events during a year.

Natural increase – the difference between the number of live births and deaths during one year. Natural increase is positive when the number of live births is larger than the number of deaths and negative when number of deaths exceeds the number of births.

Net migration – difference in the number of immigration and emigration events

Origin – the division of Estonia's population into native and foreign-origin populations. The native population comprises permanent residents of Estonia with at least one parent and at least one grandparent born in Estonia. The foreign-origin population comprises permanent residents of Estonia who do not belong to the native population. The foreign-origin population has been divided into the first, second, and third generations according to the country of birth of the person, his/her parents, and/or grandparents:
- first generation of foreign-origin population – permanent residents of Estonia who themselves and whose parents were born abroad;
- second generation of foreign-origin population – permanent residents of Estonia who were born in Estonia but whose parents were born abroad;
- third generation of foreign-origin population – permanent residents of Estonia with at least one parent born in Estonia, but all grandparents born abroad.

Place of residence – the area or settlement where the person lives permanently or most of the time

Settlement region – a territorial unit consisting of settlements with the same population density. Settlement regions are divided into city settlement regions, town settlement regions, and rural settlement regions based on population density and population figure. In the case of a division into two, city and town settlement regions are added.
- City settlement region – a type of settlement (a city, town, or village) where most inhabitants live in regions with population density greater than 1,000 inhabitants per km² and where the population figure in a cluster of such density is greater than 5,000 inhabitants.
- Rural settlement region – a type of settlement (a city, town, or village) where population density is lower than 200 inhabitants per km² or a region with higher population density where the population figure is under 5,000 inhabitants.
- Town settlement region – a type of settlement (a city, town, or village) where most inhabitants live in regions with population density of 200–1,000 inhabitants per km² and where the population figure in a cluster of this density is greater than 5,000, but it does not constitute a city settlement region.

Source country – immigrant's previous country of residence.

More information: Methodology for determining variables in population statistics.

Crude rates:
age-specific fertility rate – the number of live births per 1,000 women in the same age group per year (based on mean annual population);
age-specific death rate – the number of deaths per 1,000 inhabitants of a specific age group per year (based on mean annual population);
general fertility rate – the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15–49 per year (based on mean annual population);
crude birth rate – the number of live births per 1,000 inhabitants per year (based on mean annual population);
crude death rate – the number of deaths per 1,000 inhabitants per year (based on mean annual population);
crude rate of natural increase – the difference between the number of live births and the number of deaths per 1,000 mean annual population. Calculated as the difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate;
standardised death rate – a death rate calculated using an internationally agreed standard age-sex distribution to eliminate the effect of the population's actual age-sex distribution on mortality indicators. Until 2014, the age-sex distribution of the European Standard Population (published in 1976) was used. Since then, the standard age-sex distribution published in 2013 has been used.

More information: Mathematical formulas used in population statistics.

Person – for all population data tables;

events – for data tables of vital events (live births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and migration)

Usually resident population of Estonia

According to Regulation (EU) 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, articles 2(c) and 2(d), ‘usually resident population’ means all persons having their usual residence in Estonia at the reference time. 'Usual residence’ is the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment, or religious pilgrimage. The following persons alone shall be considered to be usual residents of a specific geographical area:
- those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference time; or
- those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference time with the intention of staying there for at least one year.

Usually resident population is determined using the residency index – a methodology based on the sign-of-life approach. More information: Implementation of the residency index in demographic statistics.

Usually resident population includes all population groups with enough of the so-called signs of life during the reference year. This includes people without a permanent address (e.g. the homeless), asylum seekers, refugees, and people under temporary protection.

Estonia as a whole

1919–…

Not applicable

Population – 1 January at 00.00;

vital events – the reference period for vital events data is the calendar year in which the events occurred.

Official Statistics Act;

Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on European demographic statistics (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014 of 4 March 2014 laying down uniformed conditions for the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council on European demographic statistics, as regards breakdowns of data, deadlines and data revisions

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