About the project

Although only 5% of Estonians study abroad and many of them only as exchange students, many of these young Estonians face a challenging dilemma – whether to return back to Estonia or not? The young people who continue their specialization in the receptive country can be seen as part of the so-called ‘brain drain’. A differing group are young entrepreneurs and freelancers who embrace the mobile lifestyle. Both these phenomena are part of the growing Estonian diaspora.

However, up to now there has not been sufficient scientific insight into how these people describe their sense of self in relation to Estonia and their motives in choosing their country of residence. Focussing on young Estonians (age 20-35) with longer experience of living and/or studying abroad and drawing from both quantitative and qualitative methods, the aim of the project is to illuminate the dominant attitudes towards national belonging and the motives for choices of their place of residence.