Ethnic Return Migration from the East and the West: The Case of Estonia in the 1990s

Abstract

International migration studies in Europe have been mainly directed at immigration in Western and Northern Europe from Southern Europe and Third World countries in the 1950s-60s. However return migration to Estonia during the period after re-independence (1991) has not yet been explored. The situation in Estonia is particularly interesting in the context of 1990s European return migration. This is because Estonia is one of the countries in Europe where return migrants have a varied emigration background and it already has a return migration experience that took place prior to the 1990s. This article seeks to clarify the scope of return migration of Estonians in the 1990s and to analyze the essence of return migration and the factors that have an impact on it. It begins with a short overview of the formation and condition of the Estonian diaspora at the end of the 1980s and an observation of the return migration of the 1990s. Data are drawn upon the databases of the National Computing Centre (Population Register) and the Estonian Citizenship and Migration Board as well as census data of the countries residence of the diaspora Estonians. Moreover the return of the diaspora Estonians to Estonia is analyzed on the basis of the data from a questionnaire completed by 106 returning Estonians.

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