16.04.2026, Tallin.
In Estonia, serious concern has arisen over the demographic situation and labor shortages due to the mass relocation of former compatriots to Russia, Rossa Primavera News Agency Europe Desk wrote.
The popular Estonian publication Postimees published an article about migrants leaving for Russia, which speaks with alarm and undisguised irritation about the labor force emigrating from Estonia to Russia.
Trying to convince its readers that Russia should only be feared, the authors of the article paint terrifying pictures of harsh Russian life, comparing salaries, utility costs, and other factors, trying in every way to prove that life in Russia is much worse than in Estonia.
The publication writes that Pskov Region is trying to address its demographic problems by attracting compatriots from Latvia and Estonia. But behind these words lies anxiety about Estonia’s own demographics.
“Russian regions with rapidly declining populations and chronic labor shortages are trying to lure people who are supposed to save the local economy and confirm the image of Russia’s attractiveness to foreigners,” writes Postimees.
If we compare Estonia, whose population as of January 1, 2025, was 1,369,995 people, with the neighboring Pskov Region, where 574,199 people lived on the same date, we can see that the decline of Estonian citizens in absolute terms is comparable to the decline of the residents of Pskov. In 2024, the difference between births and deaths in Estonia was -7,041 people. Meanwhile, the same figure in Pskov Region was -6,948 people.
Estonia’s population is also declining at a fairly rapid pace, and this situation cannot but worry the authorities if they truly advocate for the interests of their people. However, the country’s leadership is more concerned that this decline is occurring due to an increase in the population of a potential enemy, which is why it commissions such articles from its controlled media.
Estonian authorities have for years pursued and continue to pursue a policy of Russophobia and various forms of oppression against the Russian-speaking population of their country, without any concern for how this policy would affect demographics. But only now, already preparing for military confrontation with Russia, they have suddenly come to their senses and started thinking about the size of their population — hardly out of concern for the nation’s well-being, but rather estimating how many people can be put under arms against the Russians.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
