Russians in Estonia

Russians in Estonia
Total population
296,268 (est.)
(21.5% of total population)
Regions with significant populations
Harju County, Ida-Viru County
Languages
Russian and Estonian
Religion
Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate
Percentage of Russians by county in Estonia and municipality in Latvia and Lithuania, according to 2021 censuses
Tatjana Mihhailova-Saar, a Russian-born singer and actress, was raised and now lives in Estonia, and also represented the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.

In Estonia, the population of ethnic Russians (Russian: Русские Эстонии, romanizedRusskiye Estonii, Estonian: Eesti venelased) is estimated at 296,268, most of whom live in the capital city Tallinn and other urban areas of Harju and Ida-Viru counties. While a small settlement of Russian Old Believers on the coast of Lake Peipus has an over 300-year long history, the large majority of the ethnic Russian population in the country originates from the immigration from Russia and other parts of the former USSR during the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of Estonia.