Over Last Five Years, Number of Ethnic Russians in Estonia has Fallen while Number of Ethnic Ukrainians has Doubled

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 11 – The ethnic composition of the population of Estonia has changed since the 2021 census, according to new figures for 2026 just released by the state statistical office. The number of ethnic Estonians has remained little changed, but the share of ethnic Russians has declined and the number of ethnic Ukrainians has doubled.

            The Postimees newspaper has published a selection of this new demographic data (rus.postimees.ee/8525051/statistika-v-estonii-sokratilos-chislo-russkih-i-vyroslo-chislo-ukraincev), Among the most important of its new numbers are the following:

•  Estonians dominate in all age groups. Among children and young people, the Estonian share exceeds 70 percent; but among the elderly, the Estonian share is lower than that and that of others, including the ethnic Russians, higher.

• The number of ethnic Ukrainians has increased dramatically especially since February 2022 when Putin launched his expanded war against Ukraine. They now form 5.5 percent of the Estonian population.

• Under Estonian law, individuals can change their nationality by applying to the government. Over the last three years, 23,686 have done so, shifting from ethnic Russian to some other nationality.

• 82.2 percent of the population has Estonian citizenship, while 5.5. percent of the population consists of citizens of the Russian Federation and 4.6 percent citizens of Ukraine.

• 65.4 percent of the residents speak Estonian as their native language, 26.9 percent identify Russian as their native language, and 4.1 percent Ukrainian. More than 5,000 identify English as their native language and 4,000 Finnish.

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