literate society

Demographics of Estonia

The name "Eesti," or Estonia, could be derived from the word "Aestii," the name given by the ancient Germanic people to the peoples living northeast of the Vistula River. The Roman historian Tacitus in 98 A.D. was the first to mention the "Aestii" people, and early Scandinavians called the land south of the Gulf of Finland Eistland, and the people eistr. Estonian and Finnish are very closely related, belonging to the same Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric language family. Although closely related, the two languages are not really mutually intelligible, although educated native speakers can read the other language with a greater or lesser degree of understanding. Both Estonian and Finnish are distantly related to the Ugric Hungarian language.

Estonians have strong ties to the Nordic countries and Germany stemming from the strong cultural and religious influences gained over centuries during Danish, German and Swedish rule and settlement. This highly literate society places strong emphasis upon education, which is free and compulsory until age 16. The first known book in Estonian was printed in 1525.

Written with the Latin alphabet, Estonian is the language of the Estonian people and the official language of the country. One-third of the standard vocabulary is derived from adding suffixes to root words. The oldest known examples of written Estonian originate in 13th century chronicles. During the Soviet era, the Russian language was imposed in parallel to, and often instead of, Estonian in official use.

Between 1945 and 1989 the share of ethnic Estonians in the population resident within currently defined boundaries of Estonia dropped from 96% to 61%, caused primarily by the Soviet program promoting mass immigration of urban industrial workers from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, as well as by wartime emigration and Stalin's mass deportations and executions. In the decade following the reconstitution of independence, large scale emigration by ethnic Russians and the removal of the Russian military bases in 1994 caused the proportion of ethnic Estonians in Estonia to increase from 61% to 69% in 2006.

Modern Estonia is a fairly ethnically heterogeneous country, but this heterogeneity is not a feature of much of the country as the non-Estonian is concentrated in two of Estonia's counties. 13 of Estonia's 15 counties are over 80 percent ethnic Estonian, the most homogeneous being Hiiumaa, where Estonians account for 98.4% of the population. In the counties of Harju (including the capital city, Tallinn) and Ida-Viru, however, ethnic Estonians make up 60% and 20% of the population, respectively. Russians make up 25.6% of the total population, but account for 36% of the population in Harju county, and 70% of the population in Ida-Viru county.

Population

1,342,409 (official, January 1, 2007)
1,408,556 (July 2003 estimate)
1,431,471 (July 2000 estimate)
1,376,743 (last census March 31, 2000)
1,356,045 (official, January 1, 2003)

Age structure

0-14 years: 15.2% (male 103,367 female 97,587)
15-64 years: 67.6% (male 427,043; female 468,671)
65 years and over: 17.2% (male 75,347; female 152,318) (2006 est.)

Population growth rate

-0.64% (2006 est.)

Births and deaths

	Births	Deaths	Birth rate	Death rate
1950	20,279	15,817	18.4	14.4
1951	20,730	15,354	18.6	13.7
1952	21,111	15,817	18.7	14.0
1953	20,146	14,420	17.7	12.7
1954	20,909	13,981	18.2	12.2
1955	20,786	13,638	17.9	11.8
1956	19,660	12,748	16.8	10.9
1957	19,509	13,026	16.5	11.0
1958	19,598	12,971	16.4	10.9
1959	19,938	13,130	16.5	10.9
1960	20,187	12,738	16.6	10.5
1961	20,230	13,036	16.5	10.6
1962	19,959	13,495	16.1	10.9
1963	19,275	13,251	15.3	10.5
1964	19,629	12,754	15.4	10.0
1965	18,909	13,520	14.6	10.5
1966	18,629	13,800	14.3	10.6
1967	18,671	13,699	14.2	10.4
1968	19,782	14,225	14.9	10.7
1969	20,781	15,150	15.5	11.3
1970	21,552	15,186	15.8	11.2
1971	22,118	15,038	16.1	10.9
1972	21,757	15,520	15.6	11.1
1973	21,239	15,573	15.1	11.1
1974	21,461	15,393	15.1	10.9
1975	21,360	16,572	14.9	11.6
1976	21,801	17,351	15.1	12.0
1977	21,977	17,094	15.2	11.8
1978	21,842	17,812	15.0	12.2
1979	21,879	18,062	14.9	12.3
1980	22,204	18,199	15.0	12.3
1981	22,937	18,349	15.4	12.3
1982	23,128	17,893	15.4	11.9
1983	24,155	18,190	16.0	12.1
1984	24,234	19,086	16.0	12.6
1985	23,630	19,343	15.5	12.7
1986	24,106	17,986	15.7	11.7
1987	25,086	18,279	16.2	11.8
1988	25,060	18,551	16.0	11.9
1989	24,318	18,536	15.5	11.8
1990	22,304	19,531	14.2	12.4
1991	19,413	19,715	12.4	12.6
1992	18,038	20,126	11.8	13.1
1993	15,253	21,286	10.2	14.2
1994	14,176	22,212	9.7	15.2
1995	13,509	20,828	9.4	14.5
1996	13,242	19,020	9.4	13.4
1997	12,577	18,572	9.0	13.3
1998	12,167	19,445	8.8	14.0
1999	12,425	18,447	9.0	13.4
2000	13,067	18,403	9.5	13.4
2001	12,632	18,516	9.3	13.6
2002	13,001	18,355	9.6	13.5
2003	13,036	18,152	9.6	13.4
2004	13,992	17,685	10.4	13.1
2005	14,350	17,316	10.7	12.9
2006	14,819	17,435	11.0	13.0
2007	15,741	17,548

Net migration rate

-3.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female
total population: 0.84 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

7.73 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 72.04 years
male: 66.58 years
female: 77.83 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.4 children born/woman (2006)

Nationality

noun: Estonian(s)
adjective: Estonian

Ethnic groups

Estonian 68.6%, Russian 25.6%, Ukrainian 2.1%, Belarusian 1.2%, Finn 0.8%, other 1.6% (2007)

The below table was taken from 2000 census.

Ethnic nationality total	1,370,052
Estonian	930,219
Russian	351,178
Ukrainian	29,012
Byelorussian	17,241
Finnish	11,837
Tatar	2,582
Latvian	2,330
Polish	2,193
Jewish	2,145
Lithuanian	2,116
German	1,870
Armenian	1,444
Azerbaijani	880
Moldavian	645
Mordvinian	562
Romany	542
Chuvash	495
Georgian	430
Karelian	430
Ingrian	358
Swedish	300
Mari	245
Udmurt	241
Bulgarian	204
Hungarian	172
Korean	169
Bashkir	152
Greek	150
Komi	138
US American	133
Uzbek	132
Kazakh	127
Lezgi	121
Ossetian	116
Romanian	77
Izhorian	62
English	55
Hindi	55
Chechen	48
Vepsian	43
Danish	38
Turkmen	36
Tajik	35
Gagauz	32
Avar	30
Dutch	28
Chinese	27
Italian	27
Dargwa	26
French	26
Kyrgyz	26
Turkish	24
Czech	21
Komi-Permyak	20
Arab	19
Norwegian	19
Canadian	18
Austrian	17
Kalmyk	17
Buryat	16
Spanish	16
Kurdish	15
Lakk	15
Yakut	15
Circassian	14
Kabardian	14
Persian	14
Abkhazian	13
Kumyk	10
Nogay	10
Karachay	9
Pakistani	9
Vietnamese	9
Votian	9
Ingush	8
Irish	8
Scottish	8
Serbian	8
Swiss	8
Peruvian	7
Uighur	7
Japanese	6
Karay	6
Khakass	6
Kongo	6
Talysh	6
Brazilian	5
Cuban	5
Livonian	5
Nenets	5
Anglo-Australian	4
Koryak	4
Mongolian	4
Saami	4
Slovak	4
Tati	4
Walloon	4
Yugoslav	4
Altai	3
Croatian	3
Indonesian	3
Khanty	3
Mexican	3
Nanai	3
Pashto	3
Rutul	3
Yoruba	3
Albanian	2
Amharic	2
Assyrian	2
Bengali	2
Ecuadorian	2
Guatemalan	2
Nepali	2
New Zealand	2
Shor	2
Sinhala	2
Tabasaran	2
Uruguayan	2
Abaza	1
Adyghian	1
Aztec	1
Berber	1
Bolivian	1
Breton	1
Chukchi	1
Even	1
Evenki	1
Gujarati	1
Hausa	1
Honduran	1
Ibo	1
Macedonian	1
Mansi	1
Montenegrin	1
Quechua	1
St. Vincent	1
Temne	1
Tuvinian	1
Ukwuani	1
Welsh	1
Zulu	1
Ethnic nationality unknown	7,919

Religion

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005, 16% of Estonian citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 54% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 26% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". This, according to the survey, would have made Estonians the most non-religious people in the then 25-member European Union. Historically, however, Estonia used to be a stronghold of Lutheranism due to its strong links to the Nordic countries.

Less than a third of the population define themselves as believers, of those the majority are Lutheran, whereas the Russian minority is Eastern Orthodox. Ancient equinoctial traditions are held in high regard. Today, about 32 % of the population are members of a church or religious group, thereof: