The area of Estonia is 45,227 km². According to the data of the 2011 Population and Housing Census, there are 1,294, 455 permanent residents in Estonia. Compared to the previous 2000 census, the number of permanent residents in Estonia had decreased by 75,797 or 5.5%.
As of 1 January 2020, Estonian population is 1,328,976, which is 0.3% more than the same time previous year. In 2019, the population decreased by 1,302 people due to a fall in natural growth but increased by 5,458 people due to a positive net migration.
Estonian net migration was positive for the third year in a row. Last year, 18,259 people settled in Estonia and 12,801 people left Estonia. Hence, 2019 witnessed a high positive net migration – the number of people who settled in Estonia was higher by 5,458 people compared to the number of those who left. The more active immigrants and emigrants are in their 30s.
Nearly half of the immigrants who came to Estonia were persons with Estonian citizenship; the next largest groups were EU citizens, Ukrainian and Russian citizens. A half of the leavers were Estonian citizens, the citizens of EU majored among the rest.
According to a survey by Statistics Estonia, in 2019, 0.2% of the population aged below 15 had not acquired the first level of education and 29.6% had acquired the third level of education; 17.15% of total population was in formal education and 20.1% of of 25-64-yearl-olds participated in lifelong learning.
The official state language of Estonia is Estonian. Other main spoken languages are Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Finnish. According to the data of 2011 census, the major minority language is Russian with 372,480 speakers, i.e., 29.6% of the population. In 2011, the total number of people whose mother tongue is other than Estonian was 22,103 people or 1.3% of the population. Estonian and Russian are used as languages of instruction in general education schools; also English, French, German, Finnish and Swedish in schools with profound language studies. Representatives of the German, Russian, Swedish and Jewish national minorities as well as representatives of other national minorities in Estonia, of which there are more than 3,000, may establish their minority cultural autonomies.
Freedoms of conscience, religion and thought are valid in Estonia. Belonging to churches and religious unions is free, no state church exists. Most of the population are Lutheran; the number of Orthodox, Evangelical Christians and Baptists is almost equal. Smaller religious groups are Methodists, Adventists, Raskolniki, Jehova's Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Jews and others. Religious studies at school are voluntary but a school has to guarantee the opportunity for religious study provided the number of applicants at the same stage of study is at least 15.