Estonian Human Development Report

ment among young people, many researchers have forecast
a greater probability for younger working-aged people
to look for work abroad (Krieger 2004). This is also
confirmed by Estonia’s emigration statistics, in which the
ratio of 20–30-year-olds is large. According to citizenship,
Estonian citizens account for the main group of emigrants
– they total 87%. The relative importance of Russian citizens
in the four years under examination was 6% and this
has decreased uniformly by years. The ratio of those with
other citizenships was less than 2%.
Immigration 2004–2007
In 2004–2007, 8,508 people immigrated to Estonia, which
comprises 0.6% of the total population. The greatest country
of dispatch is Finland (31% of immigrants) and Russia
(21% of immigrants), and a calculable number of people
arrived from Ukraine, Germany, Latvia and Sweden.
Year-on-year, immigration from the majority of countries
is increasing, which apparently indicates a growth of return
migration. This is also indicated by the fact that 39% of the
immigrants are Estonian citizens. Russian and Finnish citizens
comprise 15% and 12% of all immigrants respectively.
Year-on-year, the ratio of immigrants that are Estonian citizens
has increased and the ratio of Russian citizens has
decreased by half. Numerically, the volume of immigration
has increased. Half the immigrants settle in Harju County.
The other important destinations include Tartu County
and Ida-Viru County (14% and 12% respectively).
Men comprise 55% of all immigrants. Therefore, while
women predominate in Estonian emigration, men predominate
in immigration (return migration). This fact
points to the possibility that women that leave Estonia are
more likely to remain abroad or to stay there for a longer
period. The average age of immigrants is 34 years (median
age is 32), whereas 20–29-year-olds predominate among
the women. The age distribution of immigrating men is
more uniform, although there are also more young, primarily
20–39-year-old people among them.
Estonia’s migration trends have changed somewhat
since 2004, when Estonia joined the European Union.
The net migration continued to be negative in 2004–2007
for a total of -8,940, which makes an average migration
loss of 2,235 people per year. Therefore Estonia’s population
declines by 0.2% per year due to a negative emigration
balance. While immigration has demonstrated a steady
growth trend, emigration has decreased slightly in 2007
(Figure 1.2.7.). The high point of emigration to date was in
2006, when a record number of 5,000 people left Estonia
for other countries.
However, by country, Estonia’s net migration is no
longer negative with all other countries. For the countries
of the former Soviet Union, Estonia has become a country
of destination. The greatest immigration is from Russia,
Ukraine and Latvia. Each year, Estonia loses the largest
number of people to Finland and other old European
Union member states, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland,
and Germany. Domestically, all the counties in Estonia
lose population due to emigration, with Harju and
Ida-Viru counties losing the most (Anniste 2009). In 2007,
when immigration suddenly increased, the larger counties,
such as Tartu, Harju and Ida-Viru, all had positive
net foreign migration and Lääne-Viru and Pärnu counties
lost the most population. The age distribution of the
immigrating and emigrating populations is quite similar
Figure 1.2.7. Estonian foreign migration 2004–2007
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
Source: SE
2004 2005 2006 2007
Immigration
Emigration
Figure 1.2.8. Age distribution of the migrating
population, 2004–2007
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
-500
-1000
-1500
0–4
Source: SE
5–9
10–14
15–19
20–24
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–44
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–64
65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
Immigration Emigration Net foreign migration
(Figure 1.2.8.). Therefore foreign migration has changed
significantly compared to the 1990s. In 2004–2007 the
majority of both immigrants and emigrants were Estonians,
who go to work in European countries that are economically
better developed. A fair number of them return
to Estonia.
Internal migration
Reasons for internal migration and its history
Estonia’s urbanization, and internal migration more generally,
continues to be affected by the Soviet period, when
the distribution of the population was organized according
the regulations of the planned economy. In Soviet
Estonia, the migration from the country to the city was
modest, the convergence of the population in the larger
cities and their environs was caused to a great extent by
foreign migration (between the Soviet Republics) (Katus
et al 1999, Tammaru 2002). At the beginning of the Soviet
period, the migration was primarily from the country to
the cities and on to Tallinn, although in the second half of
the 1970s, more people started to relocate from the capital
to the rural areas of Harju County (Marksoo 1990). As
of 1983, the net migration of the rural population became
positive throughout Estonia. It was primarily the rural
areas around the larger cities that gained population – this
at the cost of the urban population and rural population
from outlying areas (Marksoo 1992).
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