Estonia - Deaths

For Estonia, count of deaths for NUTS 3 and LAU 1 (municipality) subnational areas. Monthly from 1989.

Statistics on deaths cover both registered events of Estonian citizens and non-citizens, as well as the vital events of Estonian citizens registered in the representations of Estonia. The data do not cover events which were registered in Estonia or in the representations of Estonia, in the case of which the place of residence of the person was abroad.

Until 1993 statistics on deaths were based on death records of all deaths registered at the registry offices of counties and local governments, and starting from 1994 — on statistical accounting forms of registering deaths which from 1996 were renamed medical certificates. The processing of the data on deaths is based on the date of the death. Deaths, which are registered later than in January of the year following the year of death, will be added to the data of the registration year in statistical processing. The deaths of Estonian citizens whose place of residence is abroad and whose death is registered abroad are excluded. Also deaths of foreign citizens who died in Estonia but whose place of residence is outside Estonia, are excluded. The place where the death was registered is used in case the place of residence of a dead person is unknown. 

From 2008 the data of the Population Register and Estonian Causes of Death Registry are used.

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK)

Until 1999 the administrative division, on which the spatial distribution of the population was based, was almost the same as during the 1989 Census, except in Ida-Viru county. The distribution of the population and vital events by urban and rural areas observed the administrative division. The urban areas included all cities and towns and rural areas included rural municipalities.

Since 1996 some small towns and cities joined with neighboring rural municipalities. Therefore it is not possible to present time-series data by valid administrative division about population location and population events by territorial distribution. Instead of population and population events, distribution by urban and rural areas, the distribution is therefore presented as urban and rural settlements. Urban settlements include cities, cities without municipal status and towns; rural settlements include small towns and villages.

Statistical Classification of Regional Units of Estonia (EPS)

Based on Nomenclature of Territorial Units of Statistics (NUTS).

According to NUTS level 3 Estonia is divided into five regions:

Age — the age of the person concerned in full years at the time of the event, i.e. the age at last birthday.

Age-specific death rates (death rates by sex and age) — the number of deaths (specified by sex) in one age group during a year per 1,000 mean annual population in the same age group in the same year.

Cause of death — the underlying cause of death, which has been defined by the World Health Organization as follows: a) all diseases, morbid conditions or injuries that either resulted in or contributed to death, or b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced any such injuries. Since 1997 the international classification ICD-10 is used while coding the causes of death. In 1994–1996 the ICD-9 full version was used and in 1989–1993 the ICD-9 truncated version.

Crude death rate — annual number of deaths per 1,000 of mean annual population.

Date of occurrence of vital event — the exact date when the event occurred, which does not depend on the date of registration of the event. Annual tabulations based on date of occurrence of the vital event include also the events that occurred in December but are registered in January.

Date of registration of vital event — the date when the vital event was registered at the registry offices.

Early neonatal deaths — the deaths of infants who died during the first week of their life (aged 0–6 days). See also: Late fetal deaths.

Ethnic nationality — the data are based on self-determination. The ethnic nationality of the mother is taken as a basis for determining the ethnic nationality of the child.

Infant deaths — the deaths of up to one-year-old live-born children.

Infant mortality rate — infant (under one-year-old children) deaths per 1,000 live births in the same year.

Late fetal deaths — see stillbirth.

Late neonatal deaths — the deaths of infants who died after the first week but before 28 completed days of their life.

Level of education — person’s highest educational attainment.

Mean annual population — half the sum number of the population at the beginning and at the end of the year.

Neonatal deaths — the deaths of infants during the first four weeks of their life.

Perinatal deaths — all fetuses and infants who died within the perinatal period (commences at 22 completed weeks and ends 0-6 days after birth).

Place of residence — the area or settlement in which the person resides according to his/her statement or according to the Population Register (depending on the methodology of the survey).

Rural settlements — small towns and villages.

Standardized death rates — shows how high the mortality would be if the age distribution of Estonian population were the same as that of the European standard population (first published in 1976). In calculations, the deaths of persons whose age was unknown have been included in the age group 85+.

Stillbirth — the intra-uterine death of a fetus weighing at least 500 grams at birth, which takes place after the 22nd week of pregnancy. Until 1992 all births with extremely low birth weight (less than 1000 grams), gestational age less than 28 weeks and baby’s height less than 35 cm who die within the first week are considered stillbirths.

Urban settlements — cities, cities without municipal status and towns.

The data on place of residence unknown (total) for 2013 have been revised on 02.10.2015.

Due to administrative-territorial reform, there is a break in the series between December 2016 and January 2017.

At the source:

• http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/I_Databas/Population/03Vital_events/06Deaths/PO_04.htm