More people applied for Estonian e-residency than were born in the country in 2017

Estonia’s e-residency programme is one of the most innovative in the world, letting anyone apply to become a digital citizen of the eastern European country.

And so attractive has it become that more people wanted to become a digital resident of the country than were born there this year.

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The figures from the country’s official statistics bureau show that by November, 11,096 people had applied for e-residency in 2017 – that’s 827 more than the number of babies born in the same period.

“With over 27,000 e-Residency applications to date, we’ve seen the initiative’s popularity grow steadily since launch.” said Estonia’s e-residency programme lead Kaspar Korjus.

The UK is the fifth most popular country from which people apply.

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“By launching e-Residency, the Estonian government aimed to make Estonia bigger – to grow our digital economy and market with new customers, to spark innovation and attract new investments,” said Korjus.

The country’s move to become a digital nation has not necessarily run entirely smoothly, however. The nation’s digital ID scheme was frozen last week after a security flaw was identified.