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Census data show that an estimated 76% of Estonia’s population speak a foreign language. While 10 years ago the most widely spoken foreign language in Estonia was Russian, today it is English. Estonian is spoken by 84% of the population: 67% speak it as a mother tongue and 17% as a foreign language.

Data from the register-based population and housing census of 2021 reveal that 72.5% of Estonia’s population is made up of native people, i.e. persons with at least one parent and grandparent born in Estonia. At the time of the previous census, the share of the native populace was 75.3%, which means that the proportion of natives in the population has decreased by 2.8 percentage points, while the share of the foreign-origin population who consider themselves ethnic Estonians has increased.

Statistics Estonia is making preparations for Population and Housing Census 2021. In contrast to previous censuses, this time the majority of the required data will be obtained from state databases. People will answer only to the questions for which there are no data available in any of the databases.

According to Statistics Estonia, in the second quarter of 2021, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 12.9% year on year. The GDP at current prices was 7.4 billion euros.

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2020, life expectancy at birth for Estonian inhabitants was 78.8 years. Male life expectancy was 74.4 years and female life expectancy was 82.8 years for the second year in a row. Men are expected to live disability-free for 55.5 years and women for 59.5 years.

This year’s recipient of the Albert Pullerits young statistician’s prize awarded by Statistics Estonia is Tuuli Jürgenson for her Master’s thesis “Combining Retrospective and Prospective Data for Genome-wide Association Studies”.

The Statistical Council, formed by the order of the Government of the Republic, convened on 26 November. At the meeting, the results of the second trial census of the population and housing census were presented. The Statistical Council supports the decision of Statistics Estonia to combine the register-based census with sample surveys.

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2019, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Estonia at current prices was 28 billion euros. Harju county accounted for 18 billion euros of the GDP, whereas the city of Tallinn contributed 15 billion euros in that county.

This year, the Albert Pullerits young statistician’s grant was awarded to Papuna Gogoladze for the master’s thesis defended at the School of Economics and Business Administration of the University of Tartu. The aim of the grant is to motivate young people to apply and develop statistical methods.

Census data show that 58% of the population was employed at the end of 2021, which is 6 percentage points more than 10 years ago. The increase is mainly due to persons of retirement age, but also slightly to the unemployed and students.