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Kadri Rootalu, the service manager of population and education statistics at Statistics Estonia, said that the demographic trends of recent years continued in 2025. “Last year, over 6,000 more people died than were born. Emigration remained at the level of 2024, but immigration decreased. Net migration was negative for the first time since 2014. The population of Estonia declined by 7,041 overall,” explained Rootalu. The number of births was under 10,000 for the second time in history 9,092 children were born in 2025, which is 6% less than in 2024. “Compared with 2024, there were 600 fewer

Kadri Rootalu , the Population and Education Statistics Service Manager at Statistics Estonia, said that two thirds of the population decline can be attributed to negative natural increase, and one third resulted from net migration which turned negative. “In recent years, net migration had boosted the population figure and helped to offset the negative natural increase. However, in 2025, net migration turned negative after more than ten years, as emigration from Estonia exceeded immigration by 2,802,” said Rootalu. She added that the decrease in population due to negative natural increase was

Terje Trasberg, team lead of population and education statistics at Statistics Estonia, said that 18,634 persons immigrated to Estonia and 17,260 persons emigrated in 2024. “Last year, natural increase was negative (–6,066 people), while net migration was positive (+1,374 people). As the negative natural increase deepened compared with previous years, the positive net migration could no longer compensate for it. Therefore, the population fell by almost 5,000 people last year,” she said, adding that the last time Estonia's population declined was in 2016. There were 6,100 fewer births than

Although the population has grown for the last seven years, the latest projection predicts a decrease in Estonia’s population by 2085.

Terje Trasberg, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that 2024 was similar to 2023. “Last year, almost 6,000 more people died than were born. Immigration exceeded emigration by 550 people. While in the last two years, positive net migration compensated for the exceptionally low number of births, in 2024 the population as a whole also declined by more than 5,000 people,” Trasberg explained. Number of births continues to drop The analyst noted that the decline in births accelerated further in 2024 compared with 2023. “9,646 babies were born in 2024, which is more than 1,000 fewer than the

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.

According to Statistics Estonia, on 1 January 2024, the population of Estonia was 1,374,687. There were 10,949 births and 16,002 deaths in Estonia in 2023.