As of 15 April 2025, Finnish and Estonian authorities will automatically exchange information on their citizens who have passed away in another country. This makes it easier for family members to handle their affairs and ensures that the necessary official processes, such as the termination of the payment of social benefits and the closure of bank accounts, progress without separate notifications.

Until now, family members have had to report the death of a Finnish person who passes away in Estonia to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency and, correspondingly, the death of an Estonian person who passed away in Finland to the Estonian population register. This information will now be transferred automatically, which makes the process faster and keeps the official registers up to date without separate notifications.

“In the first phase of the information exchange, we will receive regular information on Finnish citizens who have passed away in Estonia. In the next phase, the exchanges will be extended to changes of residence between the countries. In the future, the exchanges will also extend to other information, such as changes in name and marital status as well as information on the birth of a child,” says Deputy Director General Timo Salovaara from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

The exchange of information will extend to change of residence and address at the end of 2025

The treaty on the exchange of population register information, signed by Finland and Estonia in September 2022, entered into force on 1 May 2024. In the first phase on 15 April 2025, the exchange of information concerns deaths, but the aim is that by the end of 2025, information about cross-border migrants between Finland and Estonia will also be exchanged automatically. This way, the address information of citizens who move between Finland and Estonia is kept up to date in the population registers of both countries.

In the future, it will only be possible to register a permanent residence in one country at a time. This also means that residence-based social benefits can only be obtained from one country. Finland has had a similar treaty with other Nordic countries since the 1960s.

Verification of the address details of persons with dual residences

During the preparation for the exchange of information, it was found that around 5,000 Finnish citizens have a permanent address registered in both Finland and Estonia. Therefore, the population information authorities will be in contact with these persons in late 2025 to ensure that the information is up to date.

“The vast majority of people affected by the change in the exchange of population data have their residence registered in only one country. There are also people with a permanent place of residence registered in both Finland and Estonia, and these entries will be checked and corrected,” says Enel Pungas, Head of the Population Facts Department at the Ministry of the Interior of Estonia.

Deepening of the long-term cooperation between Finland and Estonia

The Finnish and Estonian population register authorities have cooperated since the early 1990s. Since 2005, Finland has provided the Estonian authorities with address, name and marital status information for

Estonian citizens living in Finland. Now, these information exchanges become reciprocal, which strengthens the authorities’ ability to provide up-to-date and correct services to the populations of both countries.

What to do if you move between Finland and Estonia

We recommended that citizens who move between Finland and Estonia check their place of residence on time.

• If your actual residence is in Estonia but you also have a permanent address in Finland, submit an emigration notification to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
• If your actual residence is in Finland but you also have a permanent address in Estonia, check the instructions of the Estonian Population Register.
• Instructions for checking and updating address information are available on the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s website.

If someone does not submit an emigration notification, they will eventually be marked as having emigrated, according to the information provided by Estonia.

Further information

Deputy Director General Timo Salovaara, Digital and Population Data Services Agency
+358 50 344 3111, timo.salovaara@dvv.fi