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Country Profiles: Estonia
Factfile
Capital and largest cityTallinnOfficial languagesEstonianArea43, 211 sq kmPopulation1, 340, 642 (2007 est.)CurrencyEstonian kroon |
Languages
Estonian is spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia itself, and is closely related to the Finnish language. It is rare in European languages to be not of the Indo-European family of languages. It is distantly related to Hungarian and also has some similarities with German, Swedish, Russian and Latvian. There are two distinct groups of Estonian dialects, split geographically into northern and southern (and linked to the northern city of Tallinn and southern city of Tartu). The southern group includes the Tartu, Mulgi, Voro and Seto dialects. In addition there is the distinct kirderanniku dialect spoken in the north-east of the country.
Economy
Since independence in 1991, Estonia underwent a programme of rapid social and economic reform, and as a consequence, now has a thriving market economy in addition to one of the highest per capita income levels in Eastern Europe. Its GDP is $29.35 billion, and the labour force is split between the service and industry sectors, in particular engineering, electronics, IT and telecommunications, which make up some of the country's $11 billion exports. Estonia's major trading partners are Finland, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, Russia, Lithuania, US and Gibraltar. A democratic parliamentary republic, Estonia is member of organisations including the UN, EU and NATO, and has signed the Kyoto Protocol. Estonia has gained international repute for its fast growing economy, technological advances, free trade and almost non-existent debt. In the next four years, Estonia will receive around 3.4 billion euros in EU funds, which will go towards energy economies, administration, education, R&D, healthcare, transportation and the labour market.
Foreign Relations
Since independence, Estonia has become more closely aligned to the Nordic countries, and has separated ties from Russia. It sees itself as a Nordic country, in particular through allegiances with Sweden and Finland, and in 2005 it joined the EU's Nordic Battle Group. In pursuing a foreign policy of close links with Western European neighbours, the most significant area of development for Estonia was joining NATO and the EU in 2004. Now, 75% of foreign investment in Estonia comes from Finland and Sweden.
Science and Technology
Estonia has a very strong IT sector, due in part to the "Tiger's Leap" project of the mid-90s, in which the country invested heavily in expansion of and development of the computer infrastructure, leading to internet access in all Estonian schools. The country also features strong e-government and e-infrastructures.
Energy
90% of Estonia's electricy comes from oil-shale produced mining. This industry is damaging in terms of environment and non-renewable energy, and so in recent years foreign investors have developed programmes for renewable energy sources, including growing wind power production - the country is also considering building nuclear power facilities.
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