Register-based population and housing census

The purpose of the statistical activity is to create the conditions for knowledge-based strategic and spatial planning and policy-making.

The population and housing census also aims to provide the public, state agencies and international organisations with high quality information on the population of the country and to establish baseline data for future national statistical surveys.

Administrative data process

The data present the results of the 2021 Population and Housing Census.

The data include
the population size and structure as of 31 December 2021;
the number of dwellings and housing conditions as of 31 December 2021;
the number and composition of households as of 31 December 2021;
the number and composition of families as of 31 December 2021.

Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages (ISO 639-2) (nationally adapted classification:Classification of Languages 2020);

International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-2011) (nationally adapted classification: National Standard Classification of Education 2011);

Classification of Occupations 2008;

International Standard Codes for the Representation of the Names of Countries (ISO 3166) (nationally adapted classification: Classification of countries and territories 2021);

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2021);

Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2) (nationally adapted classification: Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2);

Classification of Estonian Administrative Units and Settlements (EHAK, 2021v4);

Classification of Ethnicities 2013.

Statistics Estonia manages classifications in accordance with the Official Statistics Act. The statistical classifications maintained by Statistics Estonia and used in the production of official statistics are available in Statistics Estonia's Classifications Portal.

Not applicable

Residence – the (habitable) dwelling with which a person and his or her family members have been most closely associated in the year preceding the census. Association with dwellings is calculated using the residence address(es) reported in various national registers and the locations related to everyday activities (school, kindergarten, workplace, etc.) (see Implementation of the residency index in demographic statistics). The methodology is in use since 2022 (including in the 2021 Population and Housing Census). Before 2022, the place of residence was determined based on the Population Register (2012–2021) or on the address reported by the person (Population and Housing Censuses 2000 and 2011).

Place of residence at the time of the previous census – person’s place of residence on the census moment of the previous census, i.e. a person's place of residence on 31 December 2011. The previous place of residence has been adjusted to the administrative division in force on 31 December 2021. In the case of people who were not residents of Estonia at the time of the previous census, no place of residence has been determined, but on the basis of age and migration status it has been specified whether a person resided abroad, was born after the previous census, or his/her place of residence was unknown.

Dwellings – conventional dwellings (occupied or vacant), other housing units, and collective living quarters. Each dwelling is the permanent place of residence of at least one person. The sum of occupied conventional dwellings and other housing units represents housing units.

Conventional dwellings – structurally separate and independent premises at fixed locations which are designed for permanent human habitation and are, at the reference date,
- used as a permanent place or residence,
- vacant, or
- reserved for seasonal or secondary use.

Separate means surrounded by walls and covered by a roof or ceiling so that one or more persons can isolate themselves.

Independent means having direct access from a street or a staircase, passage, gallery, or grounds.

Other housing units – huts, cabins, shacks, shanties, caravans, houseboats, barns, mills, caves, or any other shelter used for human habitation (at the time of the census), irrespective if it was designed for human habitation

Collective living quarters – premises which are designed for habitation by large groups of individuals or several households

Occupancy status of dwelling – the breakdown of conventional dwellings by occupancy status was as follows:
- occupied conventional dwelling – a conventional dwelling which is the usual place of residence of one or more persons at the census moment;
- vacant conventional dwelling – a conventional dwelling that is not the usual place of residence of any person at the census moment

Tenure status of households – households and household members were classified by tenure status as follows:
- owner – at least one member of the household owns or co-owns the dwelling;
- tenant – none of the household members is the owner of the dwelling or a close relative or spouse of the owner, but it is known that someone owns the dwelling;
- other form of tenure – at least one household member is a close relative or spouse of the owner of the dwelling

Area of dwelling – the area or useful floor space of a dwelling is defined as:
- the floor space measured inside the outer walls excluding non-habitable cellars and attics and, in multi-dwelling buildings, all common spaces; or
- the total floor space of rooms falling under the concept of room. See "room".

Comfort characteristics of dwelling – availability of water supply system, bathing facilities, toilet facilities, and central heating in the dwelling
-water supply system – cold water is piped into the dwelling and is accessible through a water tap;
-bathing facilities– a dwelling is considered as having bathing facilities if it is equipped with a bath or shower connected to the water supply network and a sewage disposal system (incl. a collection tank). Bathing facilities are also recorded as available if the dwelling includes a sauna (incl. a sauna in a separate building located outside the dwelling on the same plot as the small residential building);
- toilet facilities – a flush toilet connected to the water supply network and a sewage disposal system (incl. a collection tank);

-central heating – a dwelling is considered as centrally heated if heating is provided either from a community heating centre or from an installation built in the building or in the conventional dwelling, without regard to the source of energy

Mother tongue – the language acquired in early childhood as the first language; usually the language in which the person is most proficient. If the person’s mother tongue was missing, the mother tongue of his or her mother (provided that the father’s mother tongue is the same or unknown) will be noted as mother tongue.

Educational level – person’s highest educational attainment. Educational level is determined by the highest level completed in the formal education system (general education school, vocational school, or university). Educational level is presented in accordance with the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011).

Building – a construction permanently attached to the ground, with an interior space that is separated from the external environment by the roof and other parts of the building envelope

Period of construction of building – the year in which the building was completed. In the case of newer buildings, the year in which the building received an authorisation for use.

Type of building – residential and non-residential buildings. Residential buildings are divided into the following three categories by the number of flats:
- residential building with 1 flat (private house) – residential building designed and built for one family which is not divided into isolated parts. Farmhouses and former summer-houses that have been adapted or rebuilt for year-round habitation are included here;
- residential building with 2 flats;
- residential building with 3 or more flats;
- non-residential building – a building in which less than half of the overall useful floor area is used for residential purposes. This includes office buildings, shops, schools, and other buildings with at least one dwelling (flat).

Employed person – a person aged 15 or over who during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021):
- performed at least one hour of work for pay or profit, in cash or in kind;
- was self-employed, or
- was temporarily absent from a job in which he/she had already worked and to which he/she maintained a formal attachment

Citizenship – a permanent legal relationship between a person and the country that he or she is a citizen of. Citizenship is acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, choice, marriage, or other means according to national legislation.

Census moment – the date and the time fixing the data collected by the census. The census moment of the 2021 Population and Housing Census was on 31 December 2021 at 00.00.

Household-dwelling – all persons living in a housing unit. There is one household per occupied housing unit. Households are divided into private and institutional households.

Institutional household – comprises persons whose need for shelter and subsistence is being provided by an institution. An institution is understood to be a legal body for the purpose of long-term inhabitation and provision of services to a group of persons. Institutions usually have common facilities shared by the occupants. For example, inhabitants of substitute homes, prisons, and care homes live in institutional households.

Private household – may contain one, several or no family nuclei. It can also consist of one person.

Source country – immigrant's previous country of residence

Economically active population (labour force) – all persons aged 15 or over who, during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021), were employed, temporarily absent from a job in which they had already worked and to which they maintained a formal attachment (e.g. on paid parental leave), or unemployed but (actively) seeking work.

Economically inactive population – all children under the age of 15 and persons aged 15 or over who, during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021), were not economically active (employed or seeking work).

The economically inactive population is broken down as follows:
- child under 15 years of age – all persons under 15 years of age (as at 31 December 2021);
- pension recipient – a person who was not economically active during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021) and who met at least one of the following conditions:
- person was granted an old-age pension, pension for incapacity for work, national pension or any other pension, and the pension was not suspended,
- person had health insurance indicating pensioner status,
- person was at least 60 years of age, received payments from pillar III of the pension scheme, and the average monthly payment was at least equal to the minimum subsistence income for 2021;
- capital income recipient – a person who, during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021), was not economically active and did not belong to any of the above groups but was paid dividends during 2021 in an amount at least equal to 12 times the minimum wage for the same year;
- student – a person aged 15 or over who, during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021), was not economically active and was not a recipient of a pension or capital income, but was studying at primary, general, vocational, or higher education level;
- other – a person who was not economically active during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021) and who did not belong to any of the above groups (e.g. non-registered unemployed persons who are not students, pensioners, or recipients of capital income).

Family nucleus – two or more persons who belong to the same household and who are related as husband and wife, as partners in a consensual union, or as parent and child. Thus a family comprises a couple without children, a couple with one or more children, or a lone parent with at least one child. This family concept limits relationships between children and adults to direct (first-degree) relationships, that is, between parents and children. For example, a household with grandparent and grandchild does not comprise a family nucleus.

Main place of work – the place of work where, during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021), a person worked and received higher pay (in case of having multiple jobs)

Origin – the division of Estonia's population into native and foreign-origin populations. The native population comprises permanent residents of Estonia with at least one parent and at least one grandparent born in Estonia. The foreign-origin population comprises permanent residents of Estonia who do not belong to the native population. The foreign-origin population has been divided into the first, second, and third generations according to the country of birth of the person, his/her parents, and/or grandparents:
- first generation of foreign-origin population – permanent residents of Estonia who themselves and whose parents were born abroad;
- second generation of foreign-origin population – permanent residents of Estonia who were born in Estonia but whose parents were born abroad;
- third generation of foreign-origin population – permanent residents of Estonia with at least one parent born in Estonia, but all grandparents born abroad.

Ethnic nationality – a person's belonging to an ethnic group based on self-determination of the person. A child’s ethnic nationality is determined by the parents; if a child’s (aged 0–17) ethnic nationality is not available in the Population Register, the mother’s ethnic nationality is assigned to the child.

Legal marital status – persons aged 15 years and over are divided by (legal) marital status as follows:
- never been legally married – a person who has never been legally married;
- legally married – a person whose marriage is legal and has not terminated due to spouse’s death or divorce. A person can also be legally married if he or she does not live with the spouse;
- divorced – a person whose (previous) legal marriage terminated due to registration of divorce and who has not entered into a new legal marriage;
- widowed – a person whose (previous) legal marriage terminated due to death of the spouse (incl. being declared dead in court) and who has not entered into a new legal marriage.

Immigration – the arrival of a person at a place of residence. In the case of external migration, arrival in Estonia from a foreign country; in the case of internal migration, arrival from an administrative unit, settlement unit, or settlement region in Estonia.

Time of immigration – the last known date of migration to Estonia

Country of birth – mother’s country of residence at the time of the child’s birth. For the foreign-born, the country of birth is indicated by the state border at the time of survey. Persons born before 1945 in Pechory county or the former territory of the Republic of Estonia east of the Narva River were considered to be born in Estonia.

Number of children given birth to – the number of live births in a woman’s lifetime. Adopted children are not taken into account here. This characteristic is noted for women of at least 15 years of age.

Industry (branch of economic activity) – the branch of activity of an employed person’s main job during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021). If a person worked in a subunit with an activity different from the employer's main branch of activity, the subunit’s branch of activity is reported. A subunit is an enterprise’s or organisation’s subdivision with a branch of economic activity or address different from that of the head office.

Secondary place of residence – the (habitable) dwelling to which a person or a member of his/her family was linked during the previous year but in which he/she did not permanently reside. Linkage to dwellings is calculated on the basis of the residence address(es) reported in state registers and the location(s) associated with daily activities (school, kindergarten, workplace, etc.).

Built-up locality – a built-up area where the distance between buildings is no more than 200 metres and where there are at least 200 inhabitants. The concept "locality" refers to a specific settlement area distinguishable from its surroundings; this can be a town, small town, village, or a merged settlement. A town can be divided into several clearly separated localities (e.g. those divided by a river). See also Levels of administrative units and spatial data.

Room – a space in a housing unit enclosed by walls reaching from the floor to the ceiling or roof, of a size large enough to hold a bed for an adult (4 m² at least) and at least 2 metres high over the major area of the ceiling

Status in employment – an employed person's status in the main place of work during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021). If a person had more than one status in the main job, the one with the higher income was used.

Employed persons are broken down by status in employment as follows:
- employee – a person who, during the last full working week in 2021 (13–19 December 2021), was employed full-time or part-time by an institution, enterprise, or other employer, and was remunerated for his/her work;
- employer – a person who had a holding in an enterprise and the enterprise had at least 2 employees in December 2021, or a self-employed person with salaried employees in December;
- own-account worker – a person who had a holding in an enterprise and the enterprise had no employees in December 2021, or a self-employed person without employees, or a person whose business activity was indicated by entrepreneur account data;
- other employed person – a person not belonging to any of the above groups (includes unpaid workers in a family enterprise or farm).

Location of place of work – the actual location in which an employed person performs his/her main job. If a person worked in a subunit located at a place different from the employer's main place of business, the location of the subunit is reported. A subunit is an enterprise’s or organisation’s subdivision with a branch of economic activity or address different from that of the head office.

Unemployed person – a person aged 15 years or over who, during the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021), was not in employment, prison, or conscription service and was:
- seeking work, i.e. had taken specific steps to seek wage employment or self-employment within four weeks ending with the reference week, and
- currently available for work, i.e. was available for wage employment or self-employment during the reference week and for two weeks after that

Age – the age of the person in full years at the time of the event, i.e. the age at last birthday. The age of children under 1 year of age is 0 years.

Person;

household;

family;

dwelling

Usually resident population of Estonia and the families and households they form;

dwellings located in Estonia.

According to Regulation (EU) 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013, articles 2(c) and 2(d), ‘usually resident population’ means all persons having their usual residence in Estonia at the reference time. 'Usual residence’ is the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment, or religious pilgrimage. The following persons alone shall be considered to be usual residents of a specific geographical area:

- those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference time; or

- those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference time with the intention of staying there for at least one year.

Usually resident population is determined using the residency index – a methodology based on the sign-of-life approach. More information: Implementation of the residency index in demographic statistics.

Usually resident population includes all population groups with enough of the so-called signs of life during the year preceding the census moment. This includes people without a permanent address (e.g. the homeless), asylum seekers, refugees, and people under temporary protection.

Estonia as a whole

The census moment was at midnight (00.00) on 31 December 2021.

Not applicable

31 December 2021

Official Statistics Act (Chapter 4);

Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (the implementing acts are listed on the census website)

Other resources:

EU legislation on the 2021 population and housing censuses – explanatory notes (2019);

Conference of European Statisticians (CES). Recommendations for the 2020 Censuses of Population and Housing (UN, 2015);

Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3 (UN, 2017)

None