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Estonia

History

After centuries of Danish, Swedish, German, and Russian rule, Estonia attained independence in 1918. Forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1940, it regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. About the size of Switzerland and with the smallest population of the former Soviet republics, Estonia was the first to push for autonomy.

Today, after decades of immigration, one in three Estonians is Russian, posing a challenge to the native language, akin to Finnish and Hungarian. Estonia's cultural identity survives in the medieval capital, Tallinn, and in the Laulupidu, the national song festival. Oil shale accounts for 90 percent of Estonia's domestic fuel, but environmental concerns have prompted the country to explore sources of electric power that are less damaging to the environment. Estonia joins the EU in May 2004.

Ongoing Disputes: Russia continues to reject signing and ratifying the joint December 1996 technical border agreement with Estonia.

Environment Issues: Air polluted with sulfur dioxide from oil-shale burning power plants in northeast; however, the amount of pollutants emitted to the air have fallen steadily; the amount of unpurified wastewater discharged to water bodies in 2000 was one twentieth the level of 1980 in connection with the start-up of new water purification plants; Estonia has more than 1,400 natural and manmade lakes, the smaller of which in agricultural areas need to be monitored; coastal seawater is polluted in certain locations.

Statistics

Climate: Maritime, wet, moderate winters, cool summers
Terrain: Marshy, lowlands; flat in the north, hilly in the south
Population: 1.4 million
Infant Mortality: 12.03 deaths/1,000 live births
Life Expectancy: 70.31 years
Ethnic Groups: Estonian 65.3%, Russian 28.1%, Ukrainian 2.5%, Belarusian 1.5%, Finn 1%, other 1.6%
Religions: Evangelical Lutheran, Russian Orthodox, Estonian Orthodox, Baptist, Methodist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Word of Life, Jewish
Labour Force: 600,000 million
Unemployment Rate: 12.4%

Map

Map courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

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