A soaring cost of living, tight job market and precarious sense of security are among factors which have prompted public discourse on whether to stay in Estonia, or move elsewhere, Maaleht reported.

While some people say they will stay come what may, others have started thinking about relocating outside the country, or even made more concrete plans to do so.

Starting Monday, Maaleht took the straw poll of its readers, which revealed 15 percent of people had made plans to move away "in the near future," while over a quarter of respondents would stay put simply because most other places weren't faring too well either. The largest group, however, at 40 percent, were those who were thinking about it but had no firm plans.

The answer options to the question "Have you started weighing up whether to move away from Estonia" with the percentages who picked that option at the time of writing were:

• Yes, I intend to do so in the near future (15 percent).
• I have thought about it, but don't have any concrete plans (40 percent).
• No, as nowhere else is any better (27 percent).
• I will start to consider this if the situation deteriorates (8 percent).
• I already live abroad (7 percent).
• Other (3 percent).

Note the order of the questions as posed, and the absence of an option to stay put for more positive reasons. The poll had attracted 2,718 votes at the time of writing.

The vox pop is still running at press time. Viewing the up-to-date results requires casting a vote.

Maaleht cited figures from Statistics Estonia which showed that in 2024, 17,260 people emigrated from Estonia, a rise on the figures for recent years. The principal destinations were Finland, Germany, Spain, Portugal and various Asian nations.

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