Estonia Civil Registration

Civil registers
Research use: Uniquely identify individuals and connects them to their parents.

Record type: Civil records of birth, marriage, and death.

General: The Soviets implemented civil registration after World War II. Metrical book transcripts served this purpose previously. Registration offices are collocated with "marriage palaces" permitting the registration and performance of weddings to occur at the same place and time.

Time period: 1940-present.

Contents: Birth, marriage, and death records have the exact date of the event, including time of day for births; names of principal and parents; occupation and religious preference of parents; name of informant for births and names of witnesses for marriages; place of residence for parents of newly born, of the groom and bride for marriages, and of the deceased for deaths; age at death, cause of death, and place of burial in death records.

Location: Civil Registry Archive in Tallinn.

Population coverage: 85% coverage.