Estonia

EuropeCapital city: TallinnCapital metro: TalinnPresident: Alar KarisPrime Minister: Kristen Michal
2026 population
1.4M
Rank #161 globally
Area
45k km² (17k sq mi)
Metros tracked
10
69% of population in metros
Composite score
6.6
Rank #117 globally

population: Official estimate (1 Jan 2026) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 10 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography10 metros

Estonia metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
10 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 10 tracked metros
10 metros
🗂️ Counties

15 entries listed under Estonia. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

15 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
Estonian
Currency
Euro (€)
Government
Parliamentary republic
Legislature
Riigikogu
Demonym
Estonian
Time zone
UTC+02:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+372
Internet TLD
.ee
ISO 3166
EE
Established
1918
Highest point
Suur Munamägi (317 m (1,040 ft))
National anthem
Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Human Dev. Index
#35 / 191
0.905
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#100 / 193
$47.0B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#37 / 193
$34.4k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#41 / 190
$52.1k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#38 / 192
$32.3k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#44 / 194
79.3 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
41.9 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#70 / 194
71%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
-0.4%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#148 / 193
32/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#41 / 193
14.9%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#9 / 175
0.98
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#40 / 166
30.7
World Bank · 2023
Internet users
#42 / 193
92%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#137 / 185
4.8%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#151 / 192
6.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#57 / 186
60%
Ember · 2025

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships

Security

Political & Economic

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History27 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Other

Kristen Michal✦ Current

2024Present

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 11m 10d

Alar Karis✦ Current

2021Present

President

Tenure: 4y 8m 22d

Kaja Kallas

20212024

Prime Minister

Tenure: 3y 5m 27d

Jüri Ratas

20162021

President

Tenure: 4y 1m 21d

Jüri Ratas

20162021

Prime Minister

Tenure: 4y 1m 21d

Kersti Kaljulaid

20162016

President

Tenure: 1m 13d

Taavi Rõivas

20142016

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 7m 28d

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

20062016

President

Tenure: 10y 0d

Andrus Ansip

20052014

Prime Minister

Tenure: 8y 11m 14d

Juhan Parts

20032005

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 2d

Siim Kallas

20022003

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 2m 13d

Arnold Rüütel

20012006

President

Tenure: 5y 1d
Show all 16 leaders

Mart Laar

19992002

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 10m 3d

Mart Laar

19921994

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 11m 18d

Lennart Meri

19922001

President

Tenure: 9y 2d

Konstantin Päts

19381940

President

Tenure: 2y 2m 29d

First Republic

Konstantin Päts

19341938

State Elder

Tenure: 4y 1m 12dauthoritarian rule after 1934 coup

Konstantin Päts

19331934

State Elder

Tenure: 3m 3d

Konstantin Päts

19321933

State Elder

Tenure: 6m 17d

Konstantin Päts

19311932

State Elder

Tenure: 1y 7d

Jaan Tõnisson

19271928

State Elder

Tenure: 11m 25dapprox.

Jaan Teemant

19251927

State Elder

Tenure: 1y 11m 24dapprox.

Konstantin Päts

19231924

State Elder

Tenure: 7m 24d

Konstantin Päts

19211922

State Elder

Tenure: 1y 9m 27d

Jaan Tõnisson

19191920

State Elder

Tenure: 1y 2m 22dapprox.

Konstantin Päts

19181919

Prime Minister

Tenure: 5m 26d

Konstantin Päts

19181918

Chairman (Provisional Government)

Tenure: 8m 19dfounding of the republic
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#111 · 0.1%
3%5%8%10%19502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Estonia · share of world power, 1918–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Conflicts since 19454 interstate wars · click to expand
Combat deaths:
Russian SFSR,Latvian SSR
Combat deaths:
Russian SFSR,Other Soviet republics,Mongolian People's Party
Combat deaths:

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
1.4m
#157 in the world
Since 1800
4.09×
from 334k
Past its peak
−12.9%
peaked at 1.6m in 1990
Share of world
0.02%
0.03% in 1800
393k785k1.2m1.6m18001850190019502000
Estonia · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Estonia is past its peak, which is less unusual than it sounds: the two lines here can point in opposite directions, and for most of Europe and East Asia they now both point down.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Estonia: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak
1990
1.6m; already passed
2050
1.2m
95% band 959k to 1.5m
2100
826k
95% band 331k to 1.9m
2100 against 2025
0.61×
median falling from 2024
Deaths outnumber births
since 2011
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
509k1.0m1.5m2.0m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
20k born · 14k died · +8k net migration
TFR 2.27 · life expectancy 66.4 · median age 29.0
1960
20k born · 13k died · +8k net migration
TFR 1.98 · life expectancy 69.3 · median age 31.1
1970
21k born · 15k died · +6k net migration
TFR 2.17 · life expectancy 70.4 · median age 32.7
1980
22k born · 18k died · +5k net migration
TFR 2.02 · life expectancy 69.5 · median age 32.7
1990
22k born · 19k died · -3k net migration
TFR 2.04 · life expectancy 69.9 · median age 33.3
2000
13k born · 18k died · -3k net migration
TFR 1.35 · life expectancy 71.0 · median age 37.1
2010
16k born · 16k died · -4k net migration
TFR 1.72 · life expectancy 75.9 · median age 39.3
2020
13k born · 15k died · +4k net migration
TFR 1.59 · life expectancy 78.9 · median age 41.4
Show all 16 decades
2030
10k born · 16k died · -211 net migration
TFR 1.42 · life expectancy 80.3 · median age 44.7
2040
10k born · 17k died · +235 net migration
TFR 1.47 · life expectancy 81.8 · median age 48.3
2050
10k born · 17k died · +234 net migration
TFR 1.51 · life expectancy 83.2 · median age 48.4
2060
8k born · 16k died · +318 net migration
TFR 1.53 · life expectancy 84.5 · median age 49.3
2070
8k born · 16k died · +218 net migration
TFR 1.54 · life expectancy 85.7 · median age 51.2
2080
8k born · 15k died · +338 net migration
TFR 1.55 · life expectancy 86.9 · median age 51.3
2090
6k born · 12k died · +256 net migration
TFR 1.56 · life expectancy 88.1 · median age 50.8
2100
6k born · 12k died · +355 net migration
TFR 1.57 · life expectancy 89.2 · median age 52.1

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Estonia on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.