The results of the 2021 population and housing census have been published. The data on the Estonian population collected during the census helps us understand what life is like in Estonia today.

Census data show that 58% of the population was employed at the end of 2021, which is 6 percentage points more than 10 years ago. The increase is mainly due to persons of retirement age, but also slightly to the unemployed and students.

According to the 2021 census, an estimated one third of the population have a long-term illness or health problem. This is 2 percentage points more than in the previous census in 2011. 28% of the population are limited in their daily activities because of a health problem.

Data from the 2021 census show that 84% of the current population lived in Estonia ten years ago as well, the proportion of people who have arrived from abroad has risen significantly, and the overall population of immigrants is increasingly international. For the last ten years, internal migration has been predominantly in the direction of Harju county.

It is estimated that 17% of the native Estonian-speaking population speak a dialect. This is 2 percentage points more than in the previous census. The share of dialect speakers has increased the most in Hiiu and Saare counties, but it has not decreased in any county. 10% of dialect speakers speak more than one dialect.

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.