The Ethnic Dimensions of Suburbanisation in Estonia

Large-scale suburbanisation is a relatively recent phenomenon in East Central Europe and is responsible for major socio-spatial changes in metropolitan areas. Little is known about the ethnic dimensions of suburbanisation, despite the existence of often sizeable Russian minority populations in some member-states of the former Soviet Union. We use individual-level Estonian census data from the year 2000 in order to investigate the ethnic dimensions of suburbanisation. The results show that ethnic minorities have a considerably lower probability of suburbanising compared to the majority population, and minorities are less likely to move to rural municipalities—the main sites of suburban change—in the suburban ring of cities.