Editing Demographics of Estonia (section)

== Languages ==
{{Main|Languages of Estonia}}
[[File:Estonia. Knowledge of languages.png|320px|thumb|Total knowledge (native + foreign) of different languages in Estonia, by age group, 2011]]
[[File:Population of Estonia and share of Estonians (years 1-2020).png|320px|thumb|Population of Estonia and share of Estonians (years 1–2020)]]
Many languages are spoken in Estonia, including [[Estonian language|Estonian]] (official), [[Võro language|Võro]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[English language|English]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[German language|German]] and others. According to the census of 2000, 109 languages were spoken natively in Estonia. By 2011, the number of languages spoken natively had increased to 157, mainly due to new immigrants. However, most of these languages were used only between relatives or compatriots, while only 30 languages were spoken on a daily basis in families.<ref>Mart Rannut. 
[https://www.sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/varamu/keeleaasta-2012/ "Keeleaasta 2012."] ''[[Sirp]]'', 1-24-2013. {{in lang|et}}</ref>

Estonian and Finnish are closely related, belonging to the same [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] branch of the [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] language family. The two languages are only partially [[mutually intelligible]], although learning to comprehend and speak each other's languages is fairly easy for native speakers. Estonian and Finnish are only distantly related to the [[Hungarian language]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Bakró-Nagy |first1= Marianne  |date= 2012 |title= The Uralic Languages |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_2012_num_90_3_8272 |journal= Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire |volume= 90 |issue= 3 |pages= 1001–10027 |doi= 10.3406/rbph.2012.8272|access-date= June 21, 2024}}</ref>

Written with the [[Latin script]], Estonian is the language of the Estonian people and the official language of the country. One-third of the standard vocabulary is derived from adding suffixes to root words. The oldest known examples of written Estonian originate in 13th century chronicles. During the [[Estonian SSR|Soviet era]], the [[Russian language]] was imposed in parallel to, and often instead of, Estonian in official use.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"
|+ Population of Estonia by first language
|-
! rowspan="2" | Language
! colspan="2" | 2000 census<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat/rahvaloendus__rel2000__rahvus-emakeel-veerkeelte-oskus|title=Ethnic nationality. Mother tongue. Command of foreign languages|website=pub.stat.ee}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 2011 census<ref name="pub.stat.ee"/>
! colspan="2" |2021 census <ref>{{Cite web |title=RLV431: POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE AND SEX (1979, 1989, 2000, 2011, 2021) |url=https://andmed.stat.ee:443/pxweb/en/stat/stat__rahvaloendus__rel_vordlus__rahvastiku-demograafilised-ja-etno-kultuurilised-naitajad/RLV431.px/ |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=PX-Web}}</ref>
|-
! Number !! %
! Number !! %
! Number !! %
|-
| [[Estonian language|Estonian]]
| 921,817 || {{percentage bar|width=70|67.28}}
| 887,216 || {{percentage bar|width=70|68.54}}
| 895,493 || {{percentage bar|width=70|67.23}}
|-
| [[Russian language|Russian]]
| 406,755 || {{percentage bar|width=70|29.69}}
| 383,118 || {{percentage bar|width=70|29.60}}
| 379,210 || {{percentage bar|width=70|28.47}}
|-
| [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]
| 12,299	 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.90}}
| 8,016 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.62}}
| 12,431 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.93}}
|-
| [[Finnish language|Finnish]]
| 4,932	 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.36}}
| 2,621 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.20}}
| 4,276 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.32}}
|-
| [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]
| 5,197	 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.38}}
| 1,664 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.13}}
| 1,650 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.12}}
|-
| [[Latvian language|Latvian]]
| 1,389	 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.10}}
| 999 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.08}}
| 2,510 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.19}}
|-
| [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]
| 1,198	 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.09}}
| 905 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.07}}
| 1,110 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.08}}
|-
| [[English language|English]]
| 248 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.02}}
| 878 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.07}}
| 3,879 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.29}}
|-
| [[Tatar language|Tatar]]
| 1,251	 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.09}}
| 806 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.06}}
| 645 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.05}}
|-
| [[Armenian language|Armenian]]
| 719 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.05}}
| 717 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.06}}
| 842 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.06}}
|-
| [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]]
| 592 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.04}}
| 656 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.05}}
| 1,118 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.08}}
|-
| [[German language|German]]
| 557 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.04}}
| 522 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.04}}
| 1,834 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.14}}
|-
| [[Polish language|Polish]]
| 674 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.05}}
| 435 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.03}}
| 693 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.05}}
|-
| Other
| 3,235 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.24}}
| 2,891 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.22}}
| 17,957 || {{percentage bar|width=70|1.35}}
|-
| Unknown
| 9,189 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.67}}
| 1,723 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.13}}
| 8,176 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.61}}
|-
! Total
! colspan="2" | 1,370,052
! colspan="2" | 1,294,455
! colspan="2" | 1,331,824
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"
|+ Population of Estonia by command of foreign languages (as not the first language)
! rowspan="2" | Language
! colspan="2" | 2000 census<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
! colspan="2" | 2011 census<ref name="pub.stat.ee"/>
! colspan="2" | 2021 census<ref name="pub.stat.ee"/>
|-
! Number !! %
! Number !! %
! Number !! %
|-
| [[English language|English]]
| 345,854 || {{percentage bar|width=70|25.2}}
| 495,420 || {{percentage bar|width=70|37.8}}
| 622,560 || {{percentage bar|width=70|46.7}}
|-
| [[Russian language|Russian]]
| 578,004 || {{percentage bar|width=70|42.1}}
| 545,537 || {{percentage bar|width=70|41.5}}
| 508,060 || {{percentage bar|width=70|38.1}}
|-
| [[Estonian language|Estonian]]
| 167,804 || {{percentage bar|width=70|12.2}}
| 177,286 || {{percentage bar|width=70|13.7}}
| 223,950 || {{percentage bar|width=70|16.8}}
|-
| [[Finnish language|Finnish]]
| 138,354 || {{percentage bar|width=70|10}}
| 167,315 || {{percentage bar|width=70|12.7}}
| 138,300 || {{percentage bar|width=70|10.4}}
|-
| [[German language|German]]
| 140,004 || {{percentage bar|width=70|10.2}}
| 130,191 || {{percentage bar|width=70|10.0}}
| 89,650 || {{percentage bar|width=70|6.7}}
|-
| [[French language|French]]
| 9,912 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.7}}
| 18,677 || {{percentage bar|width=70|1.4}}
| 18,540 || {{percentage bar|width=70|1.4}}
|-
| [[Swedish language|Swedish]]
| 9,345 || {{percentage bar|width=70|0.6}}
| 13,990 || {{percentage bar|width=70|1.1}}
| 14,540 || {{percentage bar|width=70|1.1}}
|-
| Other
| 20,385 || {{percentage bar|width=70|1.5}}
| 39,761 || {{percentage bar|width=70|2.8}}
| 33,150 || {{percentage bar|width=70|2.5}}
|}

Census data show that in 2021 an estimated 76% of Estonia's population speak a foreign language. While 10 years ago the most widely spoken foreign language in Estonia was Russian, today it is English. [[Estonian language|Estonian]] is spoken by 84% of the population: 67% speak it as a mother tongue and 17% as a foreign language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Population census. More people speak dialects than in the previous census {{!}} Statistikaamet |url=https://www.stat.ee/en/news/population-census-more-people-speak-dialects-previous-census |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=www.stat.ee |language=en}}</ref>{{clear}}