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The name "Eesti," or Estonia, could be derived from the word "Aestii," the name given by the ancient Germanic people to the peoples living northeast of the Vistula River. The Roman historian Tacitus in 98 A.D. was the first to mention the "Aestii" people, and early Scandinavians called the land south of the Gulf of Finland Eistland, and the people eistr. Estonian and Finnish languages are very closely related, belonging to the same Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric language family. The two languages are mutually intelligible to native speakers. Both Estonian and Finnish are distantly related to the Ugric Hungarian language.

Estonians have strong ties to the Nordic countries and Germany stemming from the strong cultural and religious influences gained over centuries during Danish, German and Swedish rule and settlement. This highly literate society places strong emphasis upon education, which is free and compulsory until age 16. The first known book in Estonian was printed in 1525.

Written with the Latin alphabet, Estonian is the language of the Estonian people and the official language of the country. One-third of the standard vocabulary is derived from adding suffixes to root words. The oldest known examples of written Estonian originate in 13th century chronicles. During the Soviet era, the Russian language was imposed in parallel to, and often instead of, Estonian in official use.

Between 1945 and 1989 the share of ethnic Estonians in the population resident within currently defined boundaries of Estonia dropped from 96% to 61%, caused primarily by the Soviet program promoting mass immigration of urban industrial workers from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, as well as by wartime emigration and Stalin's mass deportations and executions. In the decade following the reconstitution of independence, large scale emigration by ethnic Russians and the removal of the Russian military bases in 1994 caused the proportion of ethnic Estonians in Estonia to increase from 61% to 69% in 2006.

Modern Estonia is, as a whole, multicultural, but geographically a largely ethnically homogeneous country. 13 of Estonia's 15 counties are over 80 percent ethnic Estonian, the most homogeneous being Hiiumaa, where Estonians account for 98.4% of the population. In the counties of Harju (including the capital city, Tallinn) and Ida-Viru, however, Estonians make up 60% and 20% of the population, respectively. Ethnic Russians make up 25.7% of the total population, but account for 36% of the population in Harju county, and 70% of the population in Ida-Viru county.

Contents 1 Population 1.1 Age structure 1.2 Population growth rate 1.3 Births and deaths 1.4 Net migration rate 1.5 Sex ratio 1.6 Infant mortality rate 1.7 Life expectancy at birth 1.8 Total fertility rate 2 Nationality 2.1 Ethnic groups 3 Religion 4 Languages 4.1 Literacy 5 See also

• 1,324,333 (July 2006 est.)
• 1,408,556 (July 2003 estimate)
• 1,431,471 (July 2000 estimate)
• 1,376,743 (last census March 31, 2000)
• 1,356,045 (official, January 1, 2003)

• 0-14 years: 15.2% (male 103,367 female 97,587)
• 15-64 years: 67.6% (male 427,043; female 468,671)
• 65 years and over: 17.2% (male 75,347; female 152,318) (2006 est.)

• -0.64% (2006 est.)

	Births	Deaths	Birth rate	Death rate
1950	20,279	15,817	18.4	14.4
1955	20,786	13,638	17.9	11.8
1960	20,187	12,738	16.6	10.5
1965	18,909	13,520	14.6	10.5
1970	21,552	15,186	15.8	11.2
1975	21,360	16,572	14.9	11.6
1980	22,204	18,199	15.0	12.3
1985	23,630	19,343	15.5	12.7
1990	22,304	19,531	14.2	12.4
1995	13,509	20,828	9.4	14.5
2000	13,067	18,403	9.5	13.4
2005	14,350	17,316	10.7	12.9

• -3.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

• at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.84 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

7.73 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

• total population: 72.04 years
• male: 66.58 years
• female: 77.83 years (2006 est.)

1.4 children born/woman (2006)

• noun: Estonian(s)
• adjective: Estonian

Estonian 68.6%, Russian 25.7%, Ukrainian 2.1%, Belarusian 1.2%, Finn 0.8%, other 1.6% (2006)

The below table was taken from 2000 census. [1]

Ethnic nationality total	1,370,052
Estonian	930,219
Russian	351,178
Ukrainian	29,012
Byelorussian	17,241
Finnish	11,837
Tatar	2,582
Latvian	2,330
Polish	2,193
Jewish	2,145
Lithuanian	2,116
German	1,870
Armenian	1,444
Azerbaijani	880
Moldavian	645
Mordvinian	562
Romany	542
Chuvash	495
Georgian	430
Karelian	430
Ingrian	358
Swedish	300
Mari	245
Udmurt	241
Bulgarian	204
Hungarian	172
Korean	169
Bashkir	152
Greek	150
Komi	138
US american	133
Uzbek	132
Kazakh	127
Lezgi	121
Ossetian	116
Romanian	77
Izhorian	62
English	55
Hindi	55
Chechen	48
Vepsian	43
Danish	38
Turkmen	36
Tajik	35
Gagauz	32
Avar	30
Dutch	28
Chinese	27
Italian	27
Dargwa	26
French	26
Kyrgyz	26
Turkish	24
Czech	21
Komi-Permyak	20
Arab	19
Norwegian	19
Canadian	18
Austrian	17
Kalmyk	17
Buryat	16
Spanish	16
Kurdish	15
Lakk	15
Yakut	15
Circassian	14
Kabardian	14
Persian	14
Abkhazian	13
Kumyk	10
Nogay	10
Karachay	9
Pakistani	9
Vietnamese	9
Votian	9
Ingush	8
Irish	8
Scottish	8
Serbian	8
Swiss	8
Peruvian	7
Uighur	7
Japanese	6
Karay	6
Khakass	6
Kongo	6
Talysh	6
Brazilian	5
Cuban	5
Livonian	5
Nenets	5
Anglo-Australian	4
Koryak	4
Mongolian	4
Saami	4
Slovak	4
Tati	4
Walloon	4
Yugoslav	4
Altai	3
Croatian	3
Indonesian	3
Khanty	3
Mexican	3
Nanai	3
Pashto	3
Rutul	3
Yoruba	3
Albanian	2
Amharic	2
Assyrian	2
Bengali	2
Ecuadorian	2
Guatemalan	2
Nepali	2
New Zealand	2
Shor	2
Sinhala	2
Tabasaran	2
Uruguayan	2
Abaza	1
Adyghian	1
Aztec	1
Berber	1
Bolivian	1
Breton	1
Chukchi	1
Even	1
Evenki	1
Gujarati	1
Hausa	1
Honduran	1
Ibo	1
Macedonian	1
Mansi	1
Montenegrin	1
Quechua	1
St. Vincent	1
Temne	1
Tuvinian	1
Ukwuani	1
Welsh	1
Zulu	1
Ethnic nationality unknown	7,919

Traditional religion of the Estonians is the Christian belief in the form the Evangelical Lutheran confession (as in many other countries in Scandinavia).

Less than a third of the population define themselves as believers, of those the majority are Lutheran, whereas the Russian minority is Eastern Orthodox. Ancient equinoctial heathen traditions are held in high regard. Today, about 32 % of the population are members of a church or religious group, thereof:

• 14.8 % Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
• 13.9 % Estonian Orthodox Church
• ca. 10,000 Muslims
• ca. 6,000 Baptists
• ca. 3,500 Roman Catholics

There are also a number of smaller Protestant and Jewish groups.

Estonian (official), Russian, Ukrainian, Võro, English, Finnish, German, other

• age 7 and over can read and write
• total population: 100% (1998 est.)

• History of Russians in Estonia