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Entry Year in EU: |
2004 |
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Seats: |
6 |
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Seats Percentage of EU: |
0.8 |
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Votes: |
4 |
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Votes Percentage
of EU: |
1.2 |
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Population: |
1.4 |
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Population Percentage of EU: |
0.3 |
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Area: |
45226 |
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Area Percentage
of EU: |
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Density: |
29 |
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Budget Contribution: |
100756308 |
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Budget Contribution of EU: |
0.1 |
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GDP: |
23875 |
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GDP Capita: |
17672 |
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GDP Nominal: |
10252 |
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Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti or Eesti Vabariik), is a country in Northeastern Europe. Estonia has land borders with its fellow Baltic country Latvia (339 km) to the south and Russia (229 km) to the east. It is separated from Finland in the north by the narrow Gulf of Finland and from Sweden in the west by the middle part of the Baltic Sea. Its coastline is 3794 km long. Estonia has been a member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004.
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History
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Human settlement in Estonia became possible 11,000–13,000 years ago, when the ice from the last glacial era melted away. The oldest known settlement in Estonia was the Pulli settlement located on the banks of the Pärnu River, near the town of Sindi in south Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating, it was settled 11,000 years ago, at the beginning of the 9th millennium BC.
Evidence has been found of hunting and fishing communities existing around 6500 B.C. near the town of Kunda in north Estonia. Bone and stone artefacts similar to those found at Kunda have been discovered elsewhere in Estonia, as well as in Latvia, northern Lithuania and in southern Finland. The Kunda culture belongs to the middle stone age, or mesolithic period.
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Politics
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Estonia is a constitutional democracy, with a president elected by its unicameral parliament (elections every four years). The government or the executive branch is formed by the prime minister, nominated by the president, and a total of 14 ministers. The government is appointed by the president after approval by the parliament.
The legislative power lies with the unicameral parliament, the Riigikogu or State Assembly, which consists of 101 seats. Members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The supreme judiciary court is the National Court or Riigikohus, with 19 justices whose chairman is appointed by the parliament for life on nomination by the president.
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Counties
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Estonia numbers 15 main administrative subdivisions, counties. (Estonian: pl. maakonnad; sg. - maakond). Here is a list of them:
Counties of EstoniaHarju County (Estonian: Harjumaa)
Hiiu County (Estonian: Hiiumaa)
Ida-Viru County (Estonian: Ida-Virumaa)
Järva County (Estonian: Järvamaa)
Jõgeva County (Estonian: Jõgevamaa)
Lääne County (Estonian: Läänemaa)
Lääne-Viru County (Estonian: Lääne-Virumaa)
Pärnu County (Estonian: Pärnumaa)
Põlva County (Estonian: Põlvamaa)
Rapla County (Estonian: Raplamaa)
Saare County (Estonian: Saaremaa)
Tartu County (Estonian: Tartumaa)
Valga County (Estonian: Valgamaa)
Viljandi County (Estonian: Viljandimaa)
Võru County (Estonian: Võrumaa)
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Geography
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Estonia lies on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea on the level northwestern part of the rising east European platform between 57.3° and 59.5° N and 21.5° and 28.1° E. Average elevation reaches only 50 metres (164 ft), and the country's highest point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeast at 318 metres (1,043 ft).
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Economy
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As a member of the European Union, Estonia is part of the world's largest economic zone. In 1999, Estonia experienced its worst year economically since it regained independence in 1991, largely because of the impact of the August 1998 Russian financial crisis. Estonia joined the WTO in November 1999 — the second Baltic state to join — and continued its EU accession talks. With assistance from the European Union, the World Bank and the Nordic Bank, Estonia completed most of its preparations for EU membership by the end of 2002 and now has one of the strongest economies of the new member states of the European Union, which Estonia joined on 1 May 2004. The Estonian economy is growing fast, partly due to a number of Scandinavian companies relocating their routine operations and Russian oil transit using Estonian ports. Estonia has a strong information technology (IT) sector. GDP PPP per capita is at $17,802, the highest among the Baltic states.
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Demographics
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Indigenous Estonian-speaking ethnic Estonians constitute nearly 70 percent of the total population of about 1.3 million people. First and second generation immigrants from various parts of the former Soviet Union, mainly Russia comprise most of the remaining 30 percent. The latter, mostly Russian-speaking ethnic minorities reside predominantly in the capital city (Tallinn) and the industrial urban areas in northeastern Estonia (Ida-Virumaa county). There is also a small group of Finnish descent.
The country's official language is Estonian, which is closely related to Finnish. Russian is also widely spoken as a secondary language by 30-70 year old ethnic Estonians because Russian was a compulsory second language in school during the Soviet era. Younger people, born at the end of or following the Soviet era, can usually speak English, having learned it as their first foreign language
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Ethnicity
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According to information published by the Estonian Statistical Office in 2006, the population of Estonia comprised the following self-reported ethnic groups:
68.6% Estonians
25.7% Russians
2.1% Ukrainians
1.2% Belarusians
0.8% Finns
1.6% others
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Religion
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The predominant religion of indigenous ethnic Estonians has traditionally been the Christian belief in the form the Protestant Evangelical Lutheran confession; however, less than a quarter of ethnic Estonians define themselves as active believers at present. Most believers amongst the Russian minority are Eastern Orthodox. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has since the 1920s recognised a separate national Estonian Orthodox Church, which has led to strained relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, which claimed sole authority over Orthodox believers in the country during the period of Soviet rule.
Today, over 31% of the adult population are active followers of a particular faith, and they are made up of:
15% Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
14% Orthodox
0.5% Baptists
0.5% Roman Catholics
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International rankings
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Human Development Index 2005: Rank 38th out of 177 countries.
Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2005: Rank 11th out of 167 countries.
Index of Economic Freedom 2006: Rank 7th out of 157 countries.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2005: 27/159
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