Age — the age of the person concerned in full years at the time of the event, i.e. the age at last birthday.
Age-specific death rates (death rates by sex and age) — the number of deaths (specified by sex) in one age group during a year per 1,000 mean annual population in the same age group in the same year.
Cause of death — the underlying cause of death, which has been defined by the World Health Organisation as follows: a) all diseases, morbid conditions or injuries that either resulted in or contributed to death, or b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced any such injuries. Since 1997 the international classification ICD-10 is used while coding the causes of death. In 1994–1996 the ICD-9 full version was used and in 1989–1993 the ICD-9 truncated version.
Crude death rate — annual number of deaths per 1,000 of mean annual population.
Date of occurrence of vital event — the exact date when the event occurred, which does not depend on the date of registration of the event. Annual tabulations based on date of occurrence of the vital event include also the events that occurred in December but are registered in January.
Date of registration of vital event — the date when the vital event was registered at the registry offices.
Early neonatal deaths — the deaths of infants who died during the first week of their life (aged 0–6 days). See also: Late foetal deaths.
Ethnic nationality — the data are based on self-determination. The ethnic nationality of the mother is taken as a basis for determining the ethnic nationality of the child.
Infant deaths — the deaths of up to one-year-old live-born children.
Infant mortality rate — infant (under one-year-old children) deaths per 1,000 live births in the same year.
Late foetal deaths — see stillbirth.
Late neonatal deaths — the deaths of infants who died after the first week but before 28 completed days of their life.
Level of education — person’s highest educational attainment.
Mean annual population — half the sum number of the population at the beginning and at the end of the year.
Neonatal deaths — the deaths of infants during the first four weeks of their life.
Perinatal deaths — all foetuses and infants who died within the perinatal period (commences at 22 completed weeks and ends 0-6 days after birth).
Place of residence — the area or settlement in which the person resides according to his/her statement or according to the Population Register (depending on the methodology of the survey).
Rural settlements — small towns and villages.
Standardised death rates — shows how high the mortality would be if the age distribution of Estonian population were the same as that of the European standard population (first published in 1976). In calculations, the deaths of persons whose age was unknown have been included in the age group 85+.
Stillbirth — the intra-uterine death of a foetus weighing at least 500 grams at birth, which took place after the 22nd week of pregnancy. Until 1992 all births with extremely low birth weight (less than 1000 grams), gestational age less than 28 weeks and baby’s height less than 35 cm who die within the first week are considered stillbirths.
Urban settlements — cities, cities without municipal status and towns.
Statistics on deaths cover both registered events of Estonian citizens and non-citizens, as well as the vital events of Estonian citizens registered in the representations of Estonia. The data do not cover events which were registered in Estonia or in the representations of Estonia, in the case of which the place of residence of the person was abroad.
Until 1993 statistics on deaths were based on death records of all deaths registered at the registry offices of counties and local governments, and starting from 1994 — on statistical accounting forms of registering deaths which from 1996 were renamed medical certificates. The processing of the data on deaths is based on the date of the death. Deaths, which are registered later than in January of the year following the year of death, will be added to the data of the registration year in statistical processing. The deaths of Estonian citizens whose place of residence is abroad and whose death is registered abroad are excluded. Also deaths of foreign citizens who died in Estonia but whose place of residence is outside Estonia, are excluded. The place where the death was registered is used in cases the place of residence of a dead person is unknown.
From 2008 the data of the Population Register and Estonian Causes of Death Registry are used.
The highest educational institution or grade completed in the formal educational system determines the educational attainment of a person. Since 2002, distinction is made between the education completed in a general education school and the completed vocational or professional education. The published data is aggregated on the basis of the following division: higher education, secondary education, primary or basic education.
Secondary education — general secondary education, professional secondary education or technical education after secondary education, vocational education with secondary education, vocational secondary education on the basis of secondary education, uncompleted higher education.
Higher education — academic (Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor’s degree) and applied higher education (professional higher education, vocational higher education, diploma study) or any education equal to them.
Primary and basic education — basic education, incomplete secondary education, vocational education with basic education, vocational education, primary education, no primary education.
Since 1989 three classifications of diseases were in use in Estonia: ICD-9 truncated version in 1989–1993, ICD-9 full version in 1994–1996, ICD-10 since 1997. This causes different data format over the period. Below are listed causes of death with the respective codes of used ICD. Changes of classification create the problem of comparability, which is not absolute.
| Case of death in database | Full name by ICD-10 (if it differs) |
ICD-10 code since 1997 |
ICD-9 code 1994-1996 |
ICD-9 code 1989-1993 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All causes | A00-Y89 | 001-E999 | 001-E999 | |
| Infectious and parasitic diseases | Certain infectious and parasitic diseases | A00-B99 | 001-139 | 001-139 |
| Tuberculosis | Tuberculosis and sequelae | A15-A19, B90 | 010-018, 137 | 010-018, 137 |
| Meningococcal infection | A39 | 036 | 036 | |
| Sepsis | A40-A41 | 038 | 038 | |
| HIV-disease | B20-B24 | 042-044 | 042-044 | |
| Viral hepatitis | B15-B19 | 070 | 070 | |
| Neoplasms | C00-D48 | 140-239 | 140-239 | |
| Malignant neoplasms | C00-C97 | 140-208 | 140-208 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of lip, oral cavity and pharynx | C00-C14 | 140-149 | 140-149 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of oesophagus | C15 | 150 | 150 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of stomach | C16 | 151 | 151 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of colon | C18 | 153 | 153 | |
| Malignant rectosigmoid junction | C19 | .. | .. | |
| Malignant neoplasm of rectum and anus | C20, C21 | 154* | 154* | |
| Malignant neoplasm of liver and intrahepatic bile ducts | C22 | 155 | 155 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of pancreas | C25 | 157 | 157 | |
| Malignant neoplasms of respiratory organs | Malignant neoplasms of respiratory and intrathoracic organs | C30-C39 | 160, 163-165 | 160, 163-165 |
| Malignant neoplasm of larynx, trachea, bronchus and lung | C32-C34 | 161-162 | 161-162 | |
| Malignant melanoma of skin | C43 | 172 | 172 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of breast | C50 | 174, 175 | 174, 175 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of cervix uteri | C53 | 180 | 180 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of other parts of uterus | Malignant neoplasm of other and unspecified parts of uterus | C54, C55 | 179, 182 | 179, 182 |
| Malignant neoplasm of ovary | C56 | 183.0 | 183.0 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of prostate | C61 | 185 | 185 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of kidney | C64 | 189.0 | 189.0 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of bladder | C67 | 188 | 188 | |
| Malignant neoplasm of lymphoid and haemotopoetic tissue | C81-C96 | 200-208 | 200-208 | |
| Leukemia | C91-C95 | 204-208 | 204-208 | |
| Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases | E00-E90 | 240-279 | 240-279 | |
| Diabetes mellitus | E10-E14 | 250 | 250 | |
| Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs | Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism | D50-D89 | 280-289 | 280–289 |
| Anaemia | D50-D64 | 280-285 | 280-285 | |
| Mental, behavioural disorders | F00-F99 | 290-319 | 290-319 | |
| Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol | F10 | 291, 303 | 291, 303 | |
| Drug dependence and toxicomania | F11-F16, F18, F19 | 304 | 304 | |
| Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs | G00-H95 | 320-389 | 320-389 | |
| Meningitis | G00-G03 | 320-322 | 320-322 | |
| Diseases of the circulatory system | I00-I99 | 390-459 | 390-459 | |
| Chronic rheumatic heart diseases | I05-I09 | 393-398 | 393-398 | |
| Hypertensive diseases | I10-I15 | 401-405 | 401-405 | |
| Ischaemic heart diseases | I20-I25 | 410-414 | 410-414 | |
| Acute myocardial infarction | Acute and subsequent myocardial infarction | I21-I22 | 410 | 410 |
| Other cardiovascular diseases (except rheumatic heart and valvular diseases) | I30-I33, I39-I52 | 420-423, 425-429 | 420-423, 425-429 | |
| Cerebrovascular diseases | I60-I69 | 430-438 | 430-438 | |
| Diseases of the respiratory system | J00-J99 | 460-519 | 460-519 | |
| Influenza | J10-J11 | 487 | 487 | |
| Pneumonia | J12-J18 | 480-486 | 480-486 | |
| Chronic lower respiratory diseases | J40-J47 | 490-493 | 490-493 | |
| Asthma | J45-J46 | 493 | 493 | |
| Diseases of the digestive system | K00-K93 | 520-579 | 520–579 | |
| Ulcer of stomach, duodenum and jejunum | K25-K28 | 531-533 | 531-533 | |
| Chronic liver disease | K70, K73, K74 | 571 | 571 | |
| Alcoholic liver disease | K70 | |||
| Cirrhosis of liver | Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver | K74 | ||
| Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue | L00-L99 | 680-709 | 680-709 | |
| Diseases of the musculo-skeletal system and connective tissue | M00-M99 | 710-739 | 710-739 | |
| Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthrosis | M05-M06, M15-M19 | 714-715 | 714-715 | |
| Diseases of the genito-urinary system | N00-N99 | 580-629 | 580-629 | |
| Diseases of kidney and ureter | N00-N29 | 580-594 | 580-594 | |
| Nephritic syndromes | N00-N05 | 580-589 | 580–589 | |
| Hyperplasia of prostate | N40 | 600 | 600 | |
| Complications of pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium | O00-O99 | 630-676 | 630-676 | |
| Pregnancy with abortive outcome | O00-O08 | 630-639 | 630- 639 | |
| Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period | P00-P96 | 764-779 | 764-779 | |
| Birth trauma | P10-P15 | 767 | 767 | |
| Congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities | Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities | Q00-Q99 | 740-759 | 740–759 |
| Symptoms, signs and ill-defined causes | Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory finding not elsewhere classified | R00-R99 | 780-799 | 780-799 |
| Senility | R54 | 797 | 797 | |
| Sudden infant death syndrome | R95 | 798.0 | 798.0 | |
| Unknown and unspecified causes | R96-R99 | 798.1-9, 799 | 798.1-9, 799 | |
| Injury and poisoning | External causes of morbidity and mortality | V01-Y89 | E800-E999 | E800-E999 |
| Accidents | V01-X59 | E800-E929 | E800-E929 | |
| Transport accidents | V01-V99 | E800-E848 | E800-E848 | |
| Accidental falls | W00-W19 | E880-E888 | E880-E888 | |
| Accidental drowning | W65-W74 | E910 | E910 | |
| Exposure to smoke, fire and flames | X00-X09 | E890-E899 | E890-E899 | |
| Exposure to excessive natural cold | X31 | E901** | E901** | |
| Accidental poisoning | X40-X49 | E850-E869 | E850-E869 | |
| Accidental poisoning by alcohol | X45 | E860 | E860 | |
| Suicide | Intentional self-harm | X60-X84 | E950-E959 | E950-E959 |
| Assault | X85-Y09 | E960-E978 | E960-E978 | |
| Event of undetermided intent | Y10-Y34 | E980-E989 | E980-E989 |
* Includes also malignant neoplasm of rectosigmoid junction.
** Includes also exposure to man-made and unspecified cold.
Until 1999 the administrative division, on which the spatial distribution of the population was based, was almost the same as during the 1989 Census, except in Ida-Viru county. The distribution of the population and vital events by urban and rural areas observed the administrative division. The urban areas included all cities and towns and rural areas included rural municipalities.
Since 1996 some small towns and cities joined with neighbouring rural municipalities. Therefore it is not possible to present time-series data by valid administrative division about population location and population events by territorial distribution. Instead of population and population events distribution by urban and rural areas the distribution is therefore presented as urban and rural settlements. Urban settlements include cities, cities without municipal status and towns; rural settlements include small towns and villages.
based on Nomenclature of Territorial Units of Statistics (NUTS)
According to NUTS level 3 Estonia is divided into 5 regions. These regions are the following:
| EE001 | Northern Estonia | Harju County |
| EE004 | Western Estonia | Hiiu, Lääne, Pärnu and Saare Counties |
| EE006 | Central Estonia | Järva, Lääne-Viru and Rapla Counties |
| EE007 | Northeastern Estonia | Ida-Viru County |
| EE008 | Southern Estonia | Jõgeva, Põlva, Tartu, Valga, Viljandi and Võru Counties |
Rahvastik. Population. Yearbook
Eesti statistika aastaraamat. Statistical Yearbook of Estonia
Eesti Statistika Kvartalikiri. Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics Estonia
Linnad ja vallad arvudes. Cities and Rural Municipalities of Estonia in Figures
Maakonnad arvudes. Counties in Figures
Eesti piirkondlik statistika. Regional Statistics of Estonia
Mari Plakk
Population and Social Statistics Department
Tel +372 625 9112
mari.plakk@stat.ee
Updated: 22.09.2009