More than 120,000 Estonian citizens live abroad
In total, 121,243, Estonians live abroad permanently, with 54,084 residing in Finland, data from the population register shows.
The largest number of Estonian citizens live in Finland, followed by 19,172 people in Russia and 9,536 in the U.K. There are 4,785 Estonian citizens living in the United States.
Enel Pungas, head of the Population Operations Department of the Ministry of the Interior, said these figures match the number of people who have taken Estonian documents abroad. She said these are largely people with two citizenships.
"Estonia does not allow two citizenships, but it does not take away citizenship from any Estonian citizen who has settled abroad and has also acquired another citizenship," she said.
Countries with a particularly small number of Estonian citizens also appear in the statistics. There is only one Estonian in places such as Aland, Belize, the Virgin Islands, Zambia, Somalia, Syria, Tonga and Uruguay.
Of the Estonian citizens permanently residing abroad, 54,944 are men and 66,299 are women. The majority — 86,841 — are aged between 19 and 75 years old.
More than 80,000 Estonians can vote in the next election
In the upcoming Riigikogu elections, 82,522 Estonian citizens permanently residing abroad can cast a ballot.
Of these, 41,820 people live in Finland, 9,626 in Russia and 6,432 in Great Britain. Additionally, there are 3,194 Estonian citizens with the right to vote in the United States.
The next Riigikogu election will take place in March 2023.
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Editor: Helen Wright