In Estonia, the summarised data of the 2021 population census showed that in ten years since the previous census the number of Estonians has increased by 2,9%.
Statistics Estonia wrote in a press release on Wednesday, June 1, that the previous population census in the country was carried out in 2011.
Data collected from registers in the 2021 census revealed that in ten years, Estonia’s population has grown, people live longer and the number of working-age persons has fallen. Over the past decade, Estonia has seen a rise in the number of ethnic nationalities, countries of citizenship, mother tongues, and countries of birth, as well as an increase in the number of Estonians.
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At the moment of census, on 31 December 2021, there were 1,331,824 people living permanently in Estonia, which is 2.9% more than at the same time ten years ago. Men account for 47.6% of the population and their share increased by 1.2 percentage points, while the share of women is 52.4%. The average inhabitant of Estonia is 42.2 years old, or 1.4 years older than the average inhabitant in 2011.
«The positive side of an ageing population is that the number of people aged 80 and over has increased – in other words, our people are living longer, and this is particularly noticeable for men. Compared to the time of the previous census, men live on average 3 years longer and women 1.7 years longer. The problem here is the proportion of women of child-bearing age, which has declined, but this has been mitigated to some extent by the increase in the number of children born per woman and the increase in the number of children,» said Terje Trasberg, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia.
Over the past decade, Estonia has seen an increase in both the number of children (0–14-year-olds) and the number of older persons (65+), whereas the number of working-age persons has fallen. There are 217,792 children living permanently in Estonia, which is 9% more than ten years ago. The total number of older persons is 272,164, or 18.6% more than in the previous census. The number of working-age persons is 841,868 – a decrease by 2.7%, Statistics Estonia wrote.
Number of Estonians grew over ten years, population census shows
