According to Statistics Estonia, in September 2021, the consumer price index changed by 1.2% compared to August 2021 and by 6.6% compared to September 2020. Goods were 4.6% and services 10.4% more expensive than in September last year.

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”.

Today, Statistics Estonia is launching the largest and most comprehensive relationship survey in Estonia so far, titled “Safe relationships within family, at work and outside work”. The purpose of the survey is to get an overview of well-being and safety in relationships. An invitation to participate in the survey is sent by post to over 16,000 people.

According to Statistics Estonia, in August 2021, the total production of industrial enterprises increased by 4% year on year. Production increased by 9% in manufacturing, but decreased by 28% in mining and by 16% in energy production.

According to Statistics Estonia, in August 2021, the turnover of retail trade enterprises was 762 million euros. Compared to August 2020, turnover increased by 9% at constant prices.

There is not much time left until the beginning of the big Population and Housing e Census. What makes this census special is that Statistics Estonia is organising it mainly with data obtained from registers. What else should you know about the upcoming census?

In the Population and Housing Census, which starts at the end of the year, among else, people will be able to give an assessment of their health. Health questions in the same wording were also included in the census ten years ago, which is why the results will provide an overview of Estonian people’s health and how it has changed in a decade.

The places where people live have been recorded in one way or another for centuries. Previously, the place of registration could have been a church, municipality government, city address board, housing board or the Population Register. In recent decades, developed countries have found that register data are usually more accurate than survey data, and so population censuses have also begun to use them. Back in 2011, eight European Union countries conducted the census on a register basis: in addition to the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Slovenia.

Researchers and officials have a special interest to find out through the census how many people living in Estonia have two nationalities and speak two mother tongues. Although information on nationality and mother tongue is also available in the population register, it is the first time that it is possible to choose two options in the census questionnaire.

During the first days of June, Statistics Estonia tested readiness to conduct an online survey of the Population and Housing Census in a new survey application. According to the census project manager Liina Osila, the testing was successful and Statistics Estonia is technologically ready for the census.

Latvia conducted a census based entirely on register data on the first day of this year, and it can be considered as a complete success. In addition to various databases, a large amount of information from private companies was used to specify and compare information, for example, on housing. The first most important result of the census: last year, Latvia had the lowest population growth in a hundred years.

Urmet Lee, who became the Director General of Statistics Estonia at the beginning of August, assures that we are ready for the big e-census of Estonia. We asked him to explain what is going to be different this time and why everyone should participate in the population census.