Despite the seas of Saaremaa and the adjacent Muhu a hotspot for offshore wind farm development, the island's permanent population is projected to fall by up to 10 percent in the next 15 years; the municipality aims to address this issue.

Liis Lepik, deputy mayor of Saaremaa municipality, told "Aktuaalne kaamera": "We can primarily grow Saaremaa's population via migration."

"The goal is to bring in people who are already interested in living on Saaremaa but have not yet found a suitable job or living place. So we will create a database of people interested in moving here, and offer them personalized solutions," deputy mayor Lepik went on.

"Within the development plan's framework, we have focused on the municipality's core activities. And I believe that if we cover our basic functions well and provide excellent services in childcare, education, social services, and infrastructure, so we would have good roads and well-maintained buildings, then people will choose Saaremaa as their home," Lepik added.

In drafting its development plan, Saaremaa is drawing on the experiences of other Baltic islands such as Gotland (Sweden) and Bornholm (Denmark).

Speaking about Gotland, Villu Vatsfeld, head of Digisaar OÜ, which has been set up by the municipality to address internet infrastructure, said: "High-speed internet brought about a change."

"Since 2022 and after the Covid crisis, the population of Gotland has grown by 5 percent. Around 3,000 people have returned, and believe it or not, their average age is between 19 and 24 years old. Alongside this age group, the birth rate on the island has also risen. And how is that connected to high-speed internet? These people came purely for remote jobs," Vatsfeld went on.

Authorities on Saaremaa have done some preliminary work in this area, and there is already an initial estimate of what a similar project might cost on the island.

Vatsfeld said: "The total cost of this project for Muhu and Saaremaa is estimated at €59 million. I want to emphasize that this is the top-end estimate, and assuming the cable goes underground and to every household."

Alis Tammur, an adviser at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said that the situation can certainly be influenced and that any action taken will immediately bear fruit.

"If more young people come, there will be more children, and the population will get younger," she said.

Saaremaa is to hire two specialists this year to develop the project, dubbed "Live With Us" and to be based on the Bornholm experience.

The hired specialists will be tasked with attracting professionals to the municipality and providing relocation assistance.

The current population forecast for Saaremaa by 2040 shows growth only in the Sõrve area, at the southernmost tip of Estonia's largest island.

Saaremaa municipality is also drafting a development plan through to 2035, which includes new options for offshore wind farms and for the construction of a 330kV power line.

Many registered Saaremaa residents do not live there year-round, while the island's economic activity is also seasonal in that it attracts large numbers of visitors from both inside Estonia and outside, particularly from Finland, during the summer time.

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