Estonian population and settlement

Estonia is a country of small population. As of January 1999, there were 1 445 000 inhabitants in Estonia. From the 1970-ies until the beginning of the 1990-ies the population of Estonia showed a relatively rapid increase. As a result of the negative accretion and the negative migration rate the population has been decreasing since 1991.

The dynamics of Estonian population through history
The role of natural increase and migration in the population dynamics
Births, deaths and natural increase

Since the beginning of 1990-ies the birth rate has dropped rapidly. In 1988 there were 16 babies born per 1000 inhabitants, in 1999 the birth rate was …. Nowadays the young people form their families later and there are also fewer children in a family than in earlier times. The mortality rate has been increasing as well. One of the reasons for that is the bigger proportion of elderly people in the population, or, the general ageing of the population. If there are more elderly people, there are more deaths in the population. However, the mortality rate has also increased due to the large number of accidents, various diseases and traumas.

Population age-pyramid in 1998

Estonians, the natives of Estonia, form 65% of the whole population. In addition to Estonians, there are quite a lot of Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Finns and other nationalities represented here. This kind of a mixed national composition has formed over a long period of time, however, most influential was the Soviet period with massive resettlement of different nations.

National composition in 1998

The representatives of other nationalities live mostly in urban areas, particularly in Tallinn and in North- and Northeast Estonia: in Paldiski, Maardu, Sillamäe, Tapa, Kiviõli, Kohtla-Järve and Narva. The proportion of Estonians is bigger in the rural areas.

The variation of the national composition

In the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century Estonia was a country dominated by one nationality. The national composition stayed stable until the Second World War. Estonians made up 90% of the population, other nations, mostly Russians Germans and Jews formed only 10 %of the population. The minorities were settled mostly in the historically evolved areas. Russians populated predominately the county of Petserimaa and the coasts of Lake Peipus; Swedes lived on West-Estonian islands and coasts; Latvians inhabited the South-Estonian border areas; Germans and Jews preferred towns.

National composition in 1934

Before and during the Second World War there were big changes both in the number of inhabitants as well as in the national composition: the Germans returned to Germany, the Swedes escaped back to Sweden, a lot of Estonians were killed in the War and many were deported to Siberia. After the beginning of the Soviet occupation Estonia experienced the arrival of a huge amount of immigrants form the different areas of the Soviet Union. Russians formed an overwhelming majority of the immigrants. In several towns of the Ida-Viru and Harju counties, as well as in Tallinn, the Russians started to dominate in the population.

Since Estonia regained its independence, a large number of Russians have returned to Russia, as well as to West-Europe and the USA. Most of the departing people left Estonia in 1992 - 1994, but also now there are 3000-4000 people leaving every year. As a result to the intensive emigration the share of Estonians in the overall population has increased.

The position of population and settlements

The average density of Estonian population is 33 people/per km2. Compared to other European countries, this figure is relatively small. However, there density of Estonian population is bigger than that of the North-European countries and most of Russia. There are countries of much smaller population density also elsewhere in the world.

The population of Estonia is located rather evenly across the country. There are no large unsettled areas or very densely inhabited areas in Estonia.

About 70 % of the population lives in towns. Compared to the rest of the world, our towns are small. There are only 14 towns with population of more than 10 thousand people. The biggest town is the capital city of Tallinn with the population of 420 thousand people, or almost one third of the total population. The population of Tartu is a bit over 100 thousand people; Narva has 75 thousand inhabitants, and Kohtla-Järve and Pärnu have both populations of over 50 thousand people. These five towns comprise almost a half of the total population of Estonia. Due to the general decrease of the population the growth of towns, or urbanization, has stopped and the population of several towns is even dropping.

The general features of the position of the Estonian population had been developed by the end of the Middle Ages. At these times the geographical position of settlements was primarily dependent on the fertility of agricultural land. The counties of Tartu and Viljandi, Võru and Saaremaa, as well as the Pandivere upland were densely populated; the areas of bogs and mires and large forests, such as Alutaguse, the lowlands of Pärnu, Lake Peipsi and Lake Võrtsjärv as well as Kõrvemaa were sparsely inhabited.

Over the past two centuries the position of Estonian population has become more and more dependent on the location and size of towns. The new towns were established rather in North-Estonia than in South-Estonia, that is why the density of population is bigger in North-Estonia. Quite dense population for Estonian conditions was formed relatively early in Harju county, in Soviet times also in the northern part of the Ida-Viru county.

Nowadays tows, especially big cities have an increasing impact on the position of the population. People form the rural areas are starting to prefer the areas close to towns as well, while regions of bogs and forests and even regions with fertile soils that are situated far from big towns are being neglected. In Estonia, also, the population tends to concentrate in Tallinn and its vicinity.