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Estonian Human Development Report

Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu

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Figure 1.2.5. Predictable population change 2010—2060 (%)<br />

50<br />

40<br />

30<br />

20<br />

10<br />

0<br />

-10<br />

-20<br />

-30<br />

Bulgaria<br />

Latvia<br />

Lithuania<br />

Source: Eurostat<br />

Romania<br />

Poland<br />

Slovakia<br />

Estonia<br />

Germany<br />

Hungary<br />

Slovenia<br />

Czech Republic<br />

Malta<br />

Greece<br />

Italy<br />

The Netherlands<br />

Finland<br />

Portugal<br />

Denmark<br />

Austria<br />

Belgium<br />

Spain<br />

France<br />

Sweden<br />

Switzerland<br />

United Kingdom<br />

Norway<br />

Ireland<br />

Luxembourg<br />

ten-fifteen years. In addition, most of these countries have<br />

lower than average life expectancy, which, in other words,<br />

means relatively higher mortality. Thirdly, the demographic<br />

development of many of these countries has not<br />

occurred normally in the past; there have been forced<br />

migrations; the post-war baby boom did not occur, etc.<br />

All these factors are also significant in Estonia. However,<br />

the greatest risk compared to other countries is Estonia’s<br />

small population.<br />

Compared to some projections made by various international<br />

organizations in previous years, the projection<br />

shown in Figure 1.2.6. is relatively optimistic. Natural<br />

population growth in Estonia will probably soon approach<br />

zero, although the number of births will inevitably start to<br />

decrease again when the small generations that were born<br />

in 1994–2004 reach childbearing age.<br />

Figure 1.2.6. <strong>Estonian</strong> population projection<br />

1350<br />

1300<br />

1250<br />

1200<br />

1150<br />

1100<br />

2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 2055 2060<br />

Source: Eurostat<br />

Despite the gloom of this projection, one must remember<br />

that the <strong>Estonian</strong> population was no larger at the time<br />

the <strong>Estonian</strong> state was created.<br />

External and internal migration in Estonia<br />

Changes in the distribution and composition of regional<br />

population play a great role in migration in today’s mobile<br />

world. Migration affects the domestic distribution of population<br />

as well as the decrease or increase of the population<br />

in the country as a whole. Births and deaths often<br />

have less impact on the total population and its structure<br />

than migration. However, migration may affect the fertility<br />

and mortality indicators, since it is young people and<br />

people old enough to have families who are most likely to<br />

relocate, and their arrival or departure from a region significantly<br />

affects other population processes. For Estonia,<br />

the current negative emigration balance is worrying; it is<br />

important to know where and how may <strong>Estonian</strong> residents<br />

have emigrated and how many will return to Estonia.<br />

Internal migration has been dominated by a trend to relocate<br />

to Tallinn and its environs, although the environs of<br />

other larger centres have also expanded. Regions far from<br />

population centres have emptied of population.<br />

Definitions, data and method<br />

Migration is a change in residence that crosses the boundaries<br />

of settlement units. International migration is defined<br />

as a change in an individual’s country of residence. A<br />

country of residence is a country where a person has lived<br />

for most of the last year or where a person plans to live for<br />

at least one year (United Nations 1998: 9). In the case of<br />

internal migration, the migration event is a change in residence<br />

that crosses the boundaries of towns, rural municipalities<br />

or urban settlements within a rural municipality.<br />

In order to describe migration, net migration (i.e. the difference<br />

between those arriving in and departing from the<br />

space unit being examined in 2004–2007), net migration<br />

coefficients (i.e. the ratio of the net migration to the average<br />

population in the unit during the period in thousands)<br />

and migration intensity (number of those changing residence<br />

per thousand persons living in the area being examined)<br />

are used.<br />

The data being used originates from Statistics Estonia,<br />

and its sources are the Population Register and the Citizenship<br />

and Migration Board (Tammur et al 2009), which are<br />

currently the only possible, but unfortunately not entirely<br />

reliable, information sources regarding migration. Studies<br />

show that almost one fifth of the residences listed for<br />

individuals in the Population Register do not correspond<br />

15 |

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