page_title: Demographics of Estonia
section_title: Languages
hierarchical_section_title: Demographics of Estonia / Languages
caption_attribution_description: English: Total knowledge (native + foreign) of different languages in Estonia, by age group, 2011
context_page_description: The demographics of Estonia in the twenty-first century result from historical trends over more than a thousand years, as with most European countries, but have been disproportionately influenced by events in the last half of the twentieth century. The rise and fall of the Soviet Union, including the annexation and eventual independence of Estonia, has had a major effect on Estonia's ethnic makeup and educational achievement.
  Languages spoken in Estonia largely reflect the ethnic groups composing the country, and thus have changed with historical trends affecting the ethnic makeup of the country. Religion plays a small part in the lives of most Estonians, largely as a result of the Soviet occupation from 1944 to 1991.
  Overall, the quality-of-life indices for Estonia indicate a modern industrial state. The population declined annually from 1991 until 2016, except for a brief pause in 2010. Since 2016 immigration has exceeded emigration, making the overall population grow.
context_section_description: Many languages are spoken in Estonia, including Estonian (official), Võro, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Finnish, German and others. According to the census of 2000, 109 languages were spoken natively in Estonia. By 2011, the number of languages spoken natively had increased to 157, mainly due to new immigrants. However, most of these languages were used only between relatives or compatriots, while only 30 languages were spoken on a daily basis in families.
  Estonian and Finnish are closely related, belonging to the same Finnic branch of the Uralic language family. Nevertheless, the two languages are not mutually intelligible, although educated native speakers can read the other language with a greater or lesser degree of understanding. Estonian and Finnish are only distantly related to the Hungarian language.
  Written with the Latin script, 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.
  Population of Estonia by second language
caption: Total knowledge (native + foreign) of different languages in Estonia, by age group, 2011
exif: {}