Country name: Republic of Estonia
Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland, between Latvia and Russia
Area: 45,226 sq km
Population: 1,324,333 (July 2006 est.)
Capital: Tallinn
Language: Estonian (official) 67.3%, Russian 29.7%, other 2.3%, unknown 0.7% (2000 census)
Natural resources: oil shale, peat, phosphorite, clay, limestone, sand, dolomite, arable land, sea mud
Government type: parliamentary republic
Legal system: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Currency: Estonian kroon (EEK)
Republic of Estonia is a small country situated in the Northeastern part of Europe with a total area of 45,225 square kilometers and an approximate population of 1,300,000 people. Its capital city is Tallinn. It has a long coastline of 3,795 kilometers and it shares boundaries with two countries- Russia to the East and Latvia to the south. The country bounds with the Baltic sea and it has more than 1500 islands that are part of its land. The climate is strongly influenced by the location of the country. The maritime climate is predominant for the country since it is in that area where a lot of air masses come from the North Atlantic Ocean and those are the reasons for a mild winter and cool summer.
Estonia was under the foreign rule of the greater part of its history but eventually it gained independence in 1918. However, in 1940 it became part of the USSR and communism rulled the country till 1991 when it became independent again. After regaining its freedom, Estonia went on restructuring its economy into a capitalist economy. After 1991, Estonia joined the UN and in 2004 it became a member of NATO and also the European Union.
What is notable about Estonia is that about 60-65% of its population is Estonians and the rest is comprised of people from other ethnical backgrounds. Russians are the most significant minority comprising about 25 % of the total population. Other minorities include Belarusians, Ukranians and a small pat of Finns. The official language in the country is Estonian. However, Russian is also widely spoken although not by the young generation. As far as it comes to religion, the greater part of the population ( around 65%) is either atheist or not religious. However, there is a part of people who belong to the Eastern Orthodox, also Evangelical Lutheran and other not affiliated Christians.
Estonia is a parliamentary republic. The currency of the country is Esotnian kroon (EEK). 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 9.88 EEK, 1 Euro can be exchanged for 15.6 EEK.
Considered as one of the most liberal economies in Europe, Estonia made a huge progress for a short period of time. As expected, on its way to transition to market economy it suffered high inflation combined with high unemployment but the convertion of state-owned enterprises into private was quick and it helped the economy to deal with the current issues. The GDP per capita for 2007 is estimated to be close to $ 22,000 and a growth of the GDP of around 7%. Estonia was one of the first countries from Central and Eastern Europe with which the EU started negotiations regarding expansion of the Union. Agriculture comprises only a small part of the GDP, while services comprise more than two-thirds of the GDP. Estonian economy is said to be liberal because it has few tariffs on imported goods, the national budget is in balance and it has flat-rate income tax.
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