Estonians starting to have more kids — because they can

ERR, Marian Männi, Research in Estonia, 2020

While many first world countries are becoming childless, Estonians are finding ways to halt their long decline in fertility.

When a group of young New York documentary filmmakers came to Estonia to report about its digital society, they ended up wishing they could move to this small and dark Nordic country. Not because of Estonia’s e­ governance solutions. Instead, they were more interested in having kids here – it’s family policy.

“Estonia is starting to get noticed in recent years,” said Allan Puur, Estonia’s leading demography expert at Tallinn University (TLÜ). Puur has been working with the parliamentary committee that deals with population issues. The committee – with a slightly dramatic name, the Study Committee to Solve the Demographic Crisis – was formed in 2017 and has been closely cooperating with researchers and experts in the field.

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