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

Number;

percentage

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

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 the 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. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

Decennial

Census-related news items can be viewed on the Census website in the section News.

Press releases related to the dissemination of data:

1 June 2022: First census results out today;

1 June 2022: Population census: 9% more children in Estonia than during the previous census;

1 June 2022: Population census: Estonia's population and the number of Estonians have grown;

5 July 2022: Population census: the number of dwellings is growing, and more and more people are living in private houses;

3 August 2022: Population census. One in five people in Estonia have a master's degree, the country is a destination for the highly educated;

6 September 2022: Population census: the average family size in Estonia has gone up;

4 October 2022: Population census: the share of people of foreign origin who consider themselves ethnic Estonians has grown;

5 October 2022: Population census: the average home in Estonia is older than the average person;

23 November 2022: Population census. Population has changed the least in Ida-Viru county, the most in Lääne county;

15 December 2022: Population census. More people of retirement age in employment than ever before;

16 December 2022: The results of the population census have been published.

Not published

Data are published in the statistical database under the subject area Population and Housing Census / Population and Housing Census 2021 in all tables.

Not applied

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.

The data are transmitted to Eurostat and other international organisations in aggregated form, respecting confidentiality principles.

The data delivered to Eurostat are published in CensusHub.

A selection of events organised by Statistics Estonia to present the results and promote the use of census data:

1 June 2022 – First results of the 2021 census (press conference)

29 November 2022 – Webinar on census results for local authorities

30 November 2022 – Webinar on census results for researchers, public agencies, and other interested parties

5 October 2022 – Results of the 2021 census: housing (press conference)

15 December 2022 – Final results of the 2021 census and the future of the census (incl. press conference)

In 2023, the 2021 Population and Housing Census won the Best Public Sector Campaign Award.

The metadata related to the statistical activity were viewed 20 times (1 January 2024 – 31 December 2024). This figure does not represent the number of viewers, as the metadata may have been viewed multiple times by a single user.

Description of the 2021 register-based census methodology;

Implementation of the residency index in demographic statistics;

Implementation of the partnership and location index in demographic statistics;

Methodology for establishing city, town and rural settlement region types and clusters.

The methodology is also partly described in the legislation (see "Legal acts and other agreements").

Not available

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.

National user needs for census data are listed in Chapter 4, § 22 of the Official Statistics Act. This set of variables covers all topics required under the Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (Text with EEA relevance), and includes additional topics that are requested by national user groups. The primary domestic users of the data are the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture.

International data users are the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).

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.

The data are complete and in line with Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (Text with EEA relevance).

Not applied

The overall accuracy of the data is good. The data are largely obtained from state registers, which ensures that the percentage of missing values in breakdowns is relatively low.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

The sample frame is the list of Estonian residents compiled based on the Population Register and other databases, and the list of dwellings compiled based on the Estonian Address Data System and the Register of Construction Works.

The data may contain measurement errors, which may be due to partially incomplete or inaccurate input data.

Not applicable

Not applied

Not applied

The data used for census output were transferred to Statistics Estonia between January and March 2022. Census data were published in the public statistical database between 1 June and 15 December 2022.

The required outputs under the Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 were transferred to Eurostat by March 2024. The total population counts for the 1x1 km grid were transferred to Eurostat at the end of 2022.

The data are published once.

The data are published once.

The release schedule is available to users. The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

100% of the data has been published on time.

Data on all topics are available for the entire territory of Estonia and are comparable across all administrative levels. There are no regional differences in the data quality.

The data are comparable with those of other European Union countries that produce census statistics on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (Text with EEA relevance).

All data have been collected as at the census moment on 31 December 2021.

The only exceptions are topics related to economic activity (labour status, status in employment, economic activity, occupation, location of place of work), which refer to the last full working week of 2021 (13–19 December 2021).

Not applicable

The data are comparable with demographic statistics compiled in accordance with Regulation (EU) 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013.

Not applicable

Not applicable because not directly usable in national accounts.

The data are internally coherent, i.e. all the data in a unit are consistent with each other. The internal coherence of the data is ensured by the use of a common methodology for data collection and data aggregation.

The use of registers significantly reduces the response burden on the population. However, it imposes an obligation on numerous state agencies and local governments to submit data to Statistics Estonia. Improvements in data quality and smoother data transmission processes are expected to reduce both the costs of future censuses and the burden on data providers.

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 register-based part of the population and housing census relies entirely on administrative source data.

Administrative data sources:

ADS – Address Data System of the Land and Spatial Data Development Board;

ARIREG – Commercial Register;

EHIS – Estonian Education Information System;

EHR – Register of Construction Works;

EMPIS – Estonian Unemployment Information System;

EMSR – Estonian Medical Birth Register;

e-toimik – e-File system;

ETR – Register of Residence and Work Permits;

KIR – Prisoners’ Register;

KIRST – Health Insurance Information System;

KMAIS – Identity Documents Database;

KOPIS – Mandatory Funded Pension Register;

KR – Land Register;

KVKR – National Defence Obligation Register;

MKR – Register of Taxable Persons;

RAKS – Register of Granting International Protection;

RETS – Estonian Medical Prescription Centre;

RR – Population Register;

SAP – State Personnel and Payroll Database;

SKAIS – Social Security Information System;

SPR – Causes of Death Register;

STAR – Social Services and Benefits Registry;

TETRIS – Database of Work Ability Assessment and Work Ability Allowance;

Traffic Register;

TÖR – Employment Register;

Data warehouse of Elering.

More information: Published characteristics with sources (in Estonian);

Description of the 2021 register-based census methodology.

Decennial

Administrative data are received via X-tee, an FTP-server, and by email.

Upon receipt of the data, pseudonymisation is performed immediately to ensure the security of data processing and the protection of personal data.

Subsequently, data checks and validation are performed to identify potential deficiencies or errors and to ensure the quality and reliability of the data.

For more information on data validation, see "Data validation".

Data are validated in two stages: first, the quality of input data is checked and then the output is assessed.

In the first stage, the quality of input data received from various sources (see "Data sources") is assessed. This involves measuring the percentage of missing data for each topic to identify potential gaps. Qualitative controls are also applied to detect logical errors and ensure the data are consistent with expected patterns.

In the second stage, the compiled aggregate output statistics are validated. Topic-specific results are compared with data from previous periods to identify inconsistencies or unusual trends. Where possible, results are cross-referenced with survey-based data sources, such as the Labour Force Survey or the 2011 Population and Housing census.

Principles of data processing

- The population is formed at person level, applying a specific method (residency index) to data in various registers. The residency index is used to find the probability of residing in Estonia for each person. The features necessary to identify each person are found by using the different registers in a specific priority order.

- When multiple data sources are used for a particular topic, they are applied in a specific priority order, which is defined separately for each subject.

- Document-based data sources are preferred to statement-based ones.

- For certain topics, age checks are performed when assigning information from data sources. For example, age checks are applied to education data, which means that if the level of education reported in the source is inconsistent with the person’s age, this information is disregarded.

More information: Description of the 2021 register-based census methodology.

In most cases, there is no need to impute values as the quality of the input data is good.

Two models are used in demographic statistics: the residency index and the partnership and location index. The first determines the usually resident population, while the second defines the place of usual residence in Estonia. Both models are used to ensure compliance with the definitions in Regulation (EU) 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013.

Implementation of the residency index in demographic statistics

According to Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 on European demographic statistics, articles 2(c) and 2(d), the following persons 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.

The residency index is used to assess the probability of each person residing in Estonia. The necessary features to identify each person are extracted from various registers in a specific priority order. A more detailed description of the model can be found in Section 3.6. Statistical Population. This model has been applied in demographic statistics since 2016.

An alternative register-based (i.e. not survey-based) approach would be to define usually resident population as the population registered in the Population Register. However, this would lead to an underestimation of migration in annual population statistics, as a significant amount of immigration and emigration is not registered in the Population Register. This includes individuals who move abroad but do not update their address in the Population Register and those who move to Estonia but fail to register their residence.

Implementation of the partnership and location index in demographic statistics

According to Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 on European demographic statistics, articles 2(c) and 2(d), ‘usual residence’ is the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, irrespective of temporary absences for purposes such as recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment, or religious pilgrimage.

In Estonian demographic statistics, usual residence is the (habitable) dwelling with which a person and their family members were most strongly associated during the reference period (the year prior to the reference date). The association with dwellings is calculated based on the addresses reported in various state registers and the locations related to daily activities (such as school, kindergarten, workplace, etc.). If a person has a family, all family members share a common usual residence. For a single person, the usual residence is considered to be the habitable dwelling with which the person had the strongest connection during the previous year. The partnership and location index has been used in population statistics since 2022.

An alternative register-based (i.e. not survey-based) approach would be to define usual residence as the place of residence recorded in the Population Register. However, it is well known that many people do not actually live at their registered address. Since usual residence also serves as the basis for dwelling-based household statistics (persons living at the same address form one household), using only registered addresses would distort household and family statistics, as well as population distribution data. Studies conducted in preparation for the 2021 census showed that lone-parent households would be most affected, as family members may be registered at different addresses (e.g. a summer house or a second home).

A survey conducted in 2018 assessed the quality of both models. The results are available here: A survey to assess the quality of the methodology (in Estonian).

Not applicable

The 2021 Population and Housing Census was carried out by combining a register-based census with a sample survey. The register-based part of the census covered all the topics required under Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 and therefore this metadata covers only this part of the census.

The purpose of the sample survey was to collect information that is not available in the registers but is required under § 22 (Chapter 4) of the Official Statistics Act. This information is used and required by the national user groups and it is published only in the national statistical database. It is not transmitted to Eurostat.

More information: Methodology of the 2021 Population and Housing Census

See also: Description of the survey component of the 2021 Population and Housing Census (in Estonian).