Migration

Open borders and the ability to choose where to live have made people more mobile. People move from city to city, to the countryside or even find a new job and home outside Estonia. How actively do Estonian people change their place of residence? How many migrants have found a new home in Estonia?

Migration statistics provide an overview of internal migration, or movement from one administrative unit to another within Estonia, and external migration, or cross-border changes of residence. Migration is a vital event that can quickly change the age and sex distribution of the population. In normal circumstances, changes in migration trends take place rather slowly, which is also the case with other demographic events.

Migration statistics include information on:

• which settlements in Estonia people leave and where they move most often;
• which foreign countries have been the most popular destinations for Estonian inhabitants;
• which age groups include the most emigrants;
• what is the extent of immigration to Estonia and which countries do migrants come from.

Migration statistics provide information on changes in the population and location of inhabitants. It is possible to observe both immigrants and emigrants by sex, age, previous and new place of residence, citizenship, country of birth and ethnic nationality.