Skip to main content
invest in estonia

Chatbot

Estonian economy grows 8.6% in third quarter of 2021

Estonia’s third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8.6% (year on year) shows that Estonia remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Estonia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world

Estonia’s third quarter GDP growth of 8.6% year on year surpassed both, Europe’s and the world’s average GDP growth (3.9% and 4.5%, respectively).

According to the OECD, in the third quarter of 2021, GDP of the OECD area rose above its pre-pandemic level for the first time, despite slower growth compared to the second quarter.

“Like elsewhere, growth in Estonia is driven by demand, which is reflected in the rapid growth in private consumption,” explains Kaspar Oja, economist at the central bank of Estonia, Eesti Pank. According to Oja, there are two factors behind this in a large part of the world. Firstly, easing of the pandemic situation has expanded opportunities for consumption, by making travel easier, for example. Secondly, people built up savings during the lockdowns that they can now direct into consumption. Those factors have been enhanced further in Estonia by early one-time withdrawals from the second pension pillar.

IT, construction, real estate and logistics are growing rapidly

Compared to the pre-pandemic times, Estonia’s economic growth has been stable, states Statistics Estonia. The growth continues to be broad-based, and several economic activities have shown very strong results.

“The economic growth was driven by construction, information and communication, real estate, transportation and storage activities,” notes Robert Müürsepp, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia. According to business daily Äripäev, IT, construction, real estate and logistics accounted for more than half of economic growth. In addition, manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical activities recorded positive results as well, says Müürsepp.

Foreign trade continued rapid growth: export and import grew equally by 17.5%. Export of services grew the fastest, by 38.9%, driven by computer services and other technical and business services. The biggest contributors to trade were wood and products of wood, computers and electronic equipment, metal products and electricity.

Eager to achieve more

Although the economic results were excellent, Estonians accustomed to business success are still a little disappointed, as double-digit economic growth was expected, writes Äripäev. As a reason for the lower-than-expected GDP growth the bank analysts see the impact of inflation on real growth that was slightly larger than expected. Kaspar Oja from Eesti Pank notes that inflation is currently high largely because of higher energy prices that are slowing the increase in consumption as inflation reduces the growth in real incomes. However, this is essentially a temporary factor, believes Oja.

Are you already considering investing in the growing economy of Estonia? Read more about doing business in Estonia here or just book a meeting with one of our advisors via e-Consulting and get started!

News & events

Need more information?

Need more information?

What is it like to run a business in Estonia? How to benefit from the e-solutions and the efficiency of our business culture? What are the opportunities in specific sectors? Who to partner up with?

The Estonian Investment Agency’s team is happy to help you via its complimentary e-Consulting service, organize online or offline follow-up events such as virtual investment visits and guide you through the fairly simple process of investing in Estonia.

Request e-consulting