Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (pdf) - mol.fi

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Since the beginning of the 1990s also the natural increase of the Estonian
population has been constantly negative. When in 1998 the number of
registered deaths was by 7.2 thousand greater than that of births then
afterwards the negative natural increase has been in the range from 5 thousand
to 6 thousand a year (in 2001 for example 5.9 thousand). However, the
decreasing trend of births observed for more than ten years was replaced by an
increase in 1999 (12.5 thousand births against 12.3 thousand in 1998 ) and
also in 2000 (13.1 thousand births); still, in 2001 the number of births fell
again at the 1999 level.
In the 1990s a drastic change occurred in the distribution of births to legally
married parents and unmarried parents. In 1997 the number of children born
out of wedlock was for the first time greater than that of children born to
married parents. The difference has been increasing from year to year. In 2000
children born to legally married parents made up 45.5% and in 2001 only
43.8% of all births. This does not mean, however, that over half of the children
were born to one-parent families. Rather, this is a reflection of the situation
where common law marriage is preferred to legally registered marriage.
Mortality has been high and rather stable in Estonia. While in 1998 a total of
19.4 thousand persons died and the crude mortality rate was 14.0 then in 2001
the respective figures were 18.5 thousand and 13.6. The main causes of death
are the same as those typical in developed countries. A factor contributing to
the high mortality rate is the ageing of the population – the proportion of 65year-old
and older persons in the total population has been continuously
increasing and that of 14 years old and younger has been falling. A
characteristic feature of Estonia is a large difference between the average life
expectancies of men and women. In the year 2000 life expectancy at birth was
76 years for women and only 65 years for men. While women's life
expectancy at birth in Estonia is about five years less than in Scandinavian
countries then men's life expectancy is more than ten years shorter.
Considering the small number of Estonian population, its constant decrease
and ageing mean a serious demographic crisis. However, as we know Estonia
is far from being an exception in this regard. Although general improvement
of the living standards and more efficient family policy may have some effect