Administrative unit — a unit based on administrative division, the status, name and boundaries which are determined by law and other legislation, and in the territory of which state or local government administration is carried out. The units for administrative division of the territory of Estonia are counties, cities and rural municipalities.
Crude divorce rate — number of registered divorces 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 occurred in December but are registered in January.
Date of registration of vital event — the date the vital event was registered at the registry offices.
Duration of marriage in years — the interval of time between the day, month and year of marriage to date it was divorced, expressed in full years.
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.
Level of education — a person’s highest educational attainment.
Mean annual population — half of the sum of the population at the beginning and at the end of the year.
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.
Urban settlements — cities, cities without municipal status and towns.
Statistics on births, deaths, marriages and divorces covers the vital events of Estonian permanent residents registered in vital statistics offices of Estonia, as well as the vital events of Estonian citizens registered in the foreign representations of Estonia. Registered events are excluded from statistics if the permanent place of residence of the person(s) is abroad.
The aim of collecting and producing statistics about marriages is to receive statistical information on legally contracted marriages and demographic background on persons to be married. The survey includes all marriages contracted in Estonia, as well as marriages concluded in foreign representations of Estonia. A registered marriage is excluded from statistics if the permanent place of residence of both persons to be married is abroad.
Until the end of 1993, statistics on marriages were based on the corresponding records drawn up at registry offices of counties and local governments. From the beginning of 1994, marriage statistics are based on statistical forms filled in simultaneously with the records. In 1994–2003, statistical forms were filled in also in the foreign representations of Estonia. Since 2004, marriages of Estonian citizens are contracted by Estonian representations abroad only in exceptional cases. Since 1 December 2001 ministers of religion also have licenses to contract marriages and to issue marriage certificates.
With some exceptions, the statistical forms are filled in electronically. The source of data are documents provided by persons and also the persons’ verbal statements. The data on statistical forms are checked and if necessary verified using different registers. Non-personified data are processed to get the number of marriages contracted during a calendar year, as well as the distribution of marriages by different characteristics. The statistical data represented as crude rates (marriages per 1,000 of population, total first marriage rate, mean age at first marriage) can be found in the statistical database under the heading Population — Population indicators and composition — Main demographic indicators.
Until 1999, the administrative division, on which the population location and vital events by territorial distribution were based, was almost the same as during the 1989 Census. The distribution of the population and vital events by urban and rural areas corresponded to the administrative division, whereby the urban areas included all cities and towns and rural areas included rural municipalities. Because of permanent division used, the data of different years were comparable.
Since 1996 some towns and cities were joined with neighbouring rural municipalities. Therefore it is not possible to present the time-series data by valid administrative division on population location and vital events by territorial distribution. Instead of population and vital events distribution by urban and rural areas, the distribution is presented as urban and rural settlements. Urban settlements include cities, cities without municipal status and towns; rural settlements include small towns and villages.
List of classifications:
metaweb.stat.ee/classificator
based on Nomenclature of Territorial Units of Statistics (NUTS)
According to NUTS level 3, Estonia is divided into 5 regions as follows:
| 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
Eesti statistika aastaraamat. Statistical Yearbook of Estonia
Eesti Statistika Kvartalikiri. Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics Estonia
Linnad ja vallad arvudes. Cities and Rural Municipalities 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: 23.01.2009