Last year, 9,240 people were born and 15,688 died. A total of 15,212 people immigrated to Estonia, while 18,014 emigrated.

According to Kadri Rootalu, head of the population and education statistics service team at Statistics Estonia, two-thirds of the population decline was due to negative natural increase, while one-third was due to net migration turning negative.

"The net migration that had contributed to population growth in recent years and offset negative natural increase turned negative again in 2025 after more than a decade and 2,802 more people left Estonia than arrived," she said in a press release, adding that natural increase remained negative at 6,488 people.

Average age of giving birth keeps rising

In 2025, 9,240 children were born in Estonia, 450 fewer than in 2024.

"The decline in the number of births last year (-4.6 percent) was the smallest since 2022 when the birth rate began to fall sharply. The year before last, the number of births fell by 11.5 percent in a single year and the year before that by 6 percent. Compared with the average during the period before the sharp decline (2010-2021), the number of births has fallen by more than 30 percent," Kadri Rootalu explained.

The total fertility rate, which takes into account the number of women of childbearing age, was 1.16 in 2025. A year earlier it was 1.18, while the average for the five-year period before 2022 was 1.62.

The average age of mothers giving birth was 31.2, while the average age of first-time mothers was 29.4. Both figures increased last year, continuing a trend that has persisted since Estonia regained independence.

In 2025, the largest number of births were first children, with 4,010 born. There were 3,092 second children and 2,138 third or subsequent children. The number of first children born was somewhat higher than the year before, while fewer second and third children were born.

"Over the last four years, the share of first children has increased significantly. While first children accounted for 37 percent of all births in 2021, by 2025 the figure had risen to 43 percent. Since 2021, 19 percent fewer first children have been born, 35 percent fewer second children and 40 percent fewer third or subsequent children," Rootalu said.

Emigration of Ukrainian citizens continues

According to revised migration data, which also takes unregistered migration into account, 15,212 people arrived in Estonia and 18,014 left. Both immigration and emigration contributed to the decline in net migration.

"The number of immigrants fell by 3,422 compared with the year before last, while emigration increased by 754 people. Net migration, which was still positive by 1,374 people in 2024, dropped into negative territory by 2,802 people over the course of a year," Kadri Rootalu said in describing the latest migration figures.

Migration continues to be affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"While in recent years Ukrainian citizens have been the main group among immigrants, over the past two years the share of Ukrainian citizens among emigrants has grown significantly," Rootalu said.

"The increase in emigration is primarily due to Ukrainian citizens, but also Estonia's own citizens. Emigration is also affected to some extent by the methodology of migration statistics: when people leave the country without officially registering their departure, that information reaches Statistics Estonia with a delay," Rootalu explained, offering that some of those counted as having emigrated may in fact have left earlier.

Last year, 4,672 Estonian citizens arrived in the country and 6,283 left, meaning there were 1,611 more departures than arrivals. More Ukrainian citizens left Estonia than arrived, with 5,617 emigrants and 4,791 immigrants, respectively.

Estonian citizens make up 82%

Among residents of Estonia, 18.7 percent are minors. People ages 18 to 64 make up 59.9 percent of the population, while those 65 and older account for 21.4 percent.

Over the past year, the share of minors declined, while the share of people of retirement age increased.

Men account for 47.5 percent of the population and women 52.5 percent.

Of Estonia's residents, 82.2 percent, or 1,119,000 people, are Estonian citizens, 5.5 percent hold Russian citizenship, 4.6 percent Ukrainian citizenship and 4.3 percent have undefined citizenship. Another 3.4 percent are citizens of other countries.

Ethnic Estonians make up 68.5 percent of the total population, or 933,000 people, roughly the same share as a year earlier.

The revised population figure published by Statistics Estonia takes into account unregistered migration in addition to the preliminary population figure released in January.

More detailed data cab be found on Statistics Estonia's website.

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