Estonian Human Development Report
Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
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 />
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