Terje Trasberg, team lead of population and education statistics at Statistics Estonia, said that 18,634 persons immigrated to Estonia and 17,260 persons emigrated in 2024. “Last year, natural increase was negative (–6,066 people), while net migration was positive (+1,374 people). As the negative natural increase deepened compared with previous years, the positive net migration could no longer compensate for it. Therefore, the population fell by almost 5,000 people last year,” she said, adding that the last time Estonia's population declined was in 2016. There were 6,100 fewer births than