Demographics of Estonia - Ethnic Groups

Ethnic Groups

See also: Estonian Swedes, Baltic Germans, Baltic Russians, Russians in Estonia, Armenians in Estonia, Võros, and Setos

Today, Estonia is an ethnically fairly diverse country, ranking 97th out of 239 countries and territories in 2001 study by Kok Kheng Yeoh. In 2008, thirteen of Estonia's fifteen counties were over 80% ethnic Estonian. The counties with the highest percentage Estonians are Hiiu County (98.4%) and Saare County (98.3%). However, in Harju County (which includes the national capital, Tallinn) and Ida-Viru County, ethnic Estonians make up only 59.6% (55.0% in Tallinn) and 19.7% of the population, respectively. In those two counties, Russians account for 32.4% (36.4% in Tallinn) and 71.2% of the population, respectively. In the nation as a whole, Russians make up 25.6% of the total population.

After gaining independence following World War I a population census was held in 1922 and 1934. At that time Estonians were still the predominant ethnic group, while all others constituted 12% of the population of Estonia.

Major Jewish communities were present in Estonia between 1918 and 1940 in Tallinn, Pärnu, Kilingi-Nõmme, Narva, Tartu, Valga, and Võru.

Population of Estonia according to ethnic group 1922–2011
Ethnic
group		 census 19221 census 19341 census 19592 census 19703 census 19794 census 19895 census 2000 census 20116
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Estonians 969,976 87.6 992,520 88.1 892,653 74.6 925,157 68.2 947,812 64.7 963,281 61.5 930,219 67.9 889,770 68.7
Russians 91,109 8.2 92,656 8.2 240,227 20.1 334,620 24.7 408,778 27.9 474,834 30.3 351,178 25.6 321,198 24.8
Ukrainians — 92 0.0 15,769 1.3 28,086 2.1 36,044 2.5 48,271 3.1 29,012 2.1 22,302 1.7
Belarusians — — 10,930 0.9 18,732 1.4 23,461 1.6 27,711 1.8 17,241 1.3 12,419 1.0
Finns 401 0.0 1,088 0.1 16,699 1.4 18,537 1.4 17,753 1.2 16,622 1.1 11,837 0.9 7,423 0.6
Tatars — 166 0.0 1,534 0.1 2,204 0.2 3,195 0.2 4,058 0.3 2,582 0.2 1,945 0.2
Latvians 1,966 0.2 5,435 0.5 2,888 0.2 3,286 0.2 3,963 0.3 3,135 0.2 2,330 0.2 1,716 0.1
Poles 969 0.1 1,608 0.1 2,256 0.2 2,651 0.2 2,897 0.2 3,008 0.2 2,193 0.2 1,622 0.1
Jews 4,566 0.4 4,434 0.4 5,433 0.5 5,282 0.4 4,954 0.3 4,613 0.3 2,145 0.2 1,927 0.2
Lithuanians 436 0.0 253 0.0 1,616 0.1 2,356 0.2 2,379 0.2 2,568 0.2 2,116 0.2 1,682 0.1
Germans 18,319 1.7 16,346 1.5 670 0.1 7,850 0.6 3,944 0.3 3,466 0.2 1,870 0.1 1,490 0.1
Swedes 7,850 0.7 7,641 0.7 — 435 0.0 254 0.0 297 0.0 — 375 0.0
Others 11,467 1.0 4,266 0.4 6,116 0.5 6,883 0.5 9,042 0.6 13,798 0.9 17,0297 1.2 30,367 2.4
Total 1,107,059 1,126,413 1,196,791 1,356,079 1,464,476 1,565,662 1,370,052 1,294,236

As a result of the aforementioned Soviet policies, the share of ethnic Estonians in the population resident within currently defined boundaries of Estonia dropped to 61.5% in 1989, compared to 88% in 1934. But in the decade following the reconstitution of independence, large scale emigration by ethnic Russians, as well as ethnic groups of other former Soviet countries, and the removal of the Russian military bases in 1994 caused the proportion of ethnic Estonians in Estonia to increase from 61.5% in 1989 to 68.7% in 2008. In the same period the proportion of ethnic Russians decreased from 30.0% to 25.6%, the proportion of ethnic Ukrainians decreased from 3.1% to 2.1%, and the proportion of ethnic Belarusians decreased from 1.8% to 1.2%.

As of 2008, the largest ethnic groups in Estonia are Estonians (68.7%), Russians (25.6%), Ukrainians (2.1%), Belarusians (1.2%), and Finns (0.8%). These five groups made up 98.4% of Estonia's population.

Read more about this topic:  Demographics Of Estonia

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