Estonia, Census, Tax and House Lists, 1784 to 1944

General collection information

This collection contains various lists of residents living in Estonian towns and rural municipalities from 1784 to 1944. These documents serve as population registers and contain personal and family information about inhabitants of each administrative unit, regardless of their social status or religion.

This collection covers two historical eras: Estonia under the Russian Empire until 1917, in which records were kept in German and Russian, and the Estonian Republic from 1918 to 1940, in which records were kept in Estonian. The structure and format of the records vary between regions and over time. There are also gaps in certain periods and places because some of the municipal archives were not preserved.

Using this collection

A census offers a snapshot of a family or a person's life on a specific date. You can learn more about an ancestor's work, religion, ethnic heritage, and place of citizenship. Used with information from other censuses, information in these records can reveal long-term trends in an ancestor's life.

The following details may be found in these records:

When dealing with dates in these records, it is important to keep in mind that Estonia switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1918.

If you have trouble locating your ancestor in this collection, try searching the Estonia, Population Records, 1918-1944: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9861/

Collection in Context

The records in this collection were created by government census workers. They are images of documents in their original form, making them high quality primary sources. The original documents are housed at the National Archives of Estonia.

There were seven censuses conducted in Estonia between 1782 and 1858. The Statistical Committee of Estonia was established in 1863, and the first census using international standards was conducted four years later. Five towns were included: Pärnu, Tartu, Valga, Viljandi, and Võru.

A census that covered most of the territory of modern day Estonia was conducted in 1881, and the first general population count in the Russian Empire took place in 1897. National censuses were conducted by the Estonian government in 1922 and 1934, and Nazi Germany conducted a census when it occupied Estonia during World War II.

Bibliography

National Archives of Estonia. "About us." Accessed March 21, 2022. https://www.ra.ee/en/national-archives/about-us/.

Statistics Estonia. "Population censuses in Estonia." Accessed March 21, 2022. https://www.stat.ee/en/statistics-estonia/population-census-2021/population-censuses-estonia.