Boosted by Free Public Transport, Tallinn's Official Population Reaches New 21st Century High
As of Friday, the number of people on the books as Tallinn residents is 425,081, the highest in over 15 years, according to Population Register data.
Officials said many of the new registrations were attracted by the free public transport program, which for most people is only available if they are officially registered as living in Tallinn.
Since the beginning of the year, 5,251 people have changed their registered address to Tallinn, more than in all of last year, when over 3,800 made the "move" on paper, according to the city's press agency.
January saw an increase of 3,219; and February, 1,396 people.
The combined increase represents a 2 percent increase since January 1, 2012.
Tallinn has a clear incentive in enticing people to register themselves as residents. Cities and municipalities receive an 11.4 percent cut of the income tax in Estonia based on population, due to increase incrementally to 11.6 percent by 2014.
The new "arrivals" will start generating revenue for Tallinn next year.
Tallinn's peak population was in the late 1980s, when around 480,000 called the city home.
Figures from the Population and Housing Census put the city's population at just over 403,000 at the beginning of 2012.