Registered motor vehicles

The purpose of the statistical process is to provide information on vehicles registered in the traffic register which is used in the compilation of national accounts.

Administrative data process

Vehicles registered in the traffic register (annual);

first registrations of vehicles and machinery by type (monthly data are released once a quarter).

No classifications are used in the collection, processing, or dissemination of data in this statistical process. Internal code lists of Statistics Estonia are used.

Transportation

Buses – categories M2 and M3, M3G

Mobile machines – category LM

Mopeds – categories L2e and L1e, L6e

Motorcycles – categories L3e, L4e, L5e, L7e

Off-road vehicles (land rovers) – categories MS1, MS2

Passenger cars – this includes registered vehicles of categories M1 and M1G.

Tractor trailers – categories R1A, R1B, R2A, R2B, R3A, R3B, R4A, R4B, TH, TH1

Tractors (incl. tracked tractors) – categories C1, C4.2, RO, TR, TR1,TR2, T1, T1a, T1b, T2, T2a, T2b, T3, T3a, T3b, T4.2, T4.2a, T4.3, T4.3a, T5

Trailers – categories O1, O2, O3, O4

Trucks – categories N1, N1G, N2, N2G, N3, N3G

Private vehicles are determined based on the owner, not based on the authorised user (this concerns leased vehicles).

Vehicle

Vehicles registered in the traffic register

Estonia as a whole

Vehicles and private vehicles (annual) 1990–…

First registrations of vehicles (monthly) 1993–…

Trams and trolleybuses (annual) 1980–2024

Aircraft (annual) 1994–2024

Watercraft (annual) 2000–2024

Railway vehicles (annual) 2009–2024

The data on vehicles registered in the traffic register refer to the previous year (for example, the data published in 2026 refer to 2025). The data on first registrations of vehicles are published once a quarter as monthly data for the three previous months.

Not applicable

Vehicles – number

Year (vehicles and private vehicles);

month (first registrations of vehicles).

Official Statistics Act

None

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in §§ 32, 34, 35 and 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act.

The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here: Data protection (Privacy policy).

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on Statistics Estonia's website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

The release calendar is available to consumers on the website Calendar.

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

Year;

quarter (monthly data for the relevant quarter are published)

News items can be viewed on the Statistics Estonia website in the News section.

No press releases are published based on this statistical process.

Not published

Data are published in the statistical database under the subject area Economy/Transport/ Registered motor vehicles in the following tables:

TS32: Vehicles and private vehicles, 31 December;

TS322: First registrations of vehicles (months).

The following data tables, previously published within this statistical process, have been discontinued:

TS328: Seagoing vessels registered in the Estonian Ship Registers, 31 December;

TS33: Motor driven machines and tractor trailers registered in the Estonian Traffic Register and first registration, 31 December;

TS350: Registered aircraft by type of aircraft;

and under the subject area Economy/Transport / General data of transport in the following table:

TS34: Trams and trolley buses, 31 December.

The following discontinued data tables are available under the subject area Discontinued datasets / Economy. Archive / Transport. Archive:

TS320: Vehicles by administrative unit, 31 December (1998–2015);

TS321: New vehicles registered for the first time (1995–2005);

TS326: Passenger cars registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2003;

TS3261: Passenger cars registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2004;

TS3262: Passenger cars registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2005;

TS3263: Passenger cars registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2006;

TS3264: Passenger cars registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2007;

TS3265: Passenger cars registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2008;

TS3266: Passenger cars registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2009;

TS327: Lorries registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2003;

TS3271: Lorries registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2004;

TS3272: Lorries registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2005;

TS3273: Lorries registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2006;

TS3274: Lorries registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2007;

TS3275: Lorries registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2008;

TS3276: Lorries registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by year of production and make, 2009;

TS330: Motor driven machines and tractor trailers registered in the Estonian Traffic Register by county, 31 December (2007–2015);

TS331: First registrations of motor driven machines and tractors (1990–2017);

TS35: Registered civil aircraft in aircraft register (1994–2021).

The database tables related to the statistical process were viewed 2,069 times in 2025.

This figure include views of updated data tables only; views of discontinued tables are not included. Each table view is counted as a separate viewing. This is based on database URLs indicating that data have been selected and a table has been generated.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in §§ 33, 34, 35, 36, 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes.

No confidentiality measures are applied, as the process is based on open data.

The data from this statistical process are used for annual and quarterly national accounts (21401 and 21405).

The data are transmitted to Eurostat once a year via the EDAMIS data transmission system using the Eurostat/OECD/UNECE Common Questionnaire.

The metadata related to the statistical activity were viewed 311 times (1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025). This figure does not represent the number of viewers, as the metadata may have been viewed multiple times by a single user.

Glossary for transport statistics (prepared by the Intersecretariat Working Group on Transport Statistics – Eurostat, ITF and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe).

This statistical activity is guided by the European Statistics Code of Practice – revised edition, 2017.

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the EFQM Excellence Model and the requirements in section 7 “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

Quality is managed by the quality manager.

The statistical process is carried out to provide input for the compilation of national accounts by Statistics Estonia.
Statistics on the transport sector are also used by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat).

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. Surveys conducted at least once a year target both the existing and potential consumers of statistics. All results are available on Statistics Estonia's website in the section User surveys. The survey referred to does not concern a specific statistical activity but is a general satisfaction survey.

Information on user satisfaction can also be obtained through user feedback, which has been mostly positive.

The data meet the requirements of national accounts.

All required indicators have been collected and calculated (completeness 100%).

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient accuracy.

Not applicable, since this is not a sample survey

Not applicable as this is not a sample survey.

Not applied

There is no coverage error, as complete information on the population units is available in registers.

The data are validated by data holder.

The data are validated by data holder.

Not applicable

Annual data on road vehicles are published about 85 days after the end of the reference year (T + 85 days), and monthly data are published about 15 days after the end of the reference quarter (T + 15 days).

The data are published once.

The data are published once.

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

100% of the data has been published on time (as announced in the release calendar).

The data are internationally comparable and comply with the definitions of the Eurostat/OECD/UNECE Common Questionnaire on Transport.

Since 1994, statistics have excluded vehicles that have not had a technical inspection for several years. Vehicles that were not re-registered by 1 July 2001 were removed from the traffic register.

There have been no breaks in the time series, which means that the number of observation periods in the last unbroken time series equals the number of all observation periods.

There is coherence with the data of the traffic register of the Transport Administration, since the published data are based on that register. Annual data on private vehicles are aggregated based on owner and, therefore, are not coherent with the Transport Administration's open data on private vehicles (these are aggregated based on authorised user).

Cross-domain coherence with other statistical processes cannot be assessed as there are no equivalent indicators published in other statistical processes.

Not applicable

Vehicle statistics are also used in national accounts; the data of the statistical processes are coherent.

The outputs of the statistical activity are coherent.

Total time of filling in reports of the statistical activity: 107 hours (data for 2024).

Costs are not calculated separately for different statistical activities.

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described on Statistics Estonia's website in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics.

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available.

Not applied

The statistical process is based on administrative data sources.

Traffic register data, including data on first registrations of vehicles, are received from the open data of the Transport Administration. This includes information about vehicle category, date of first registration, and type of owner. Vehicles with any status (incl. suspended) are included. Annual data on private vehicles (based on owner) are received from the Transport Administration in the form of a file.

Data on vehicles registered in the traffic register are collected once a year.

Data on first registrations of vehicles are obtained from open data once a quarter (and published as monthly data).

Data on vehicles registered in the traffic register and on first registrations of vehicles are received from the open data of the Transport Administration. Annual data on private vehicles are received from the Transport Administration in the form of a file.

The data are validated by the data holder. During data processing, the data are compared with those from the previous period.

The collected data are converted into statistical input. This includes calculation of additional indicators.

For road vehicle data, the following variables are calculated:

number of vehicles registered for the first time;

number of new vehicles registered for the first time;

type of registered motor vehicle;

type of owner of the registered vehicle;

total number of registered vehicles;

number of registered vehicles – up to 2 years old;

number of registered vehicles – 2 to 5 years old;

number of registered vehicles – 5 to 10 years old;

number of registered vehicles – over 10 years old.

Imputation rate shows the share of imputed values among all values.

The data values are not imputed.

Not applied

Not applied

Starting from 2025, only the following is published under this process: the number of vehicles registered in the traffic register (annually), and the number of first registrations of vehicles (quarterly, published as monthly data).

In 2016, the statistical process 22028 "First registrations of vehicles" was merged with the statistical process 22027 "Registered motor vehicles"; the component of the former statistical process 22029 "General data on transport" covering the tramway and trolleybus transport entity was also merged with the process 22027. In 2017, the national component of the statistical process (statistics by counties) was reduced. From 2022, data on aircraft registrations were obtained from the Transport Administration in the form of a file; previously, the data had been submitted by the Estonian Civil Aviation Administration using the questionnaire "Aircraft register".