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By the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland, north of Latvia and west of Russia. Capital: Tallinn.
The Estonians have been ruled by the Danes, Swedes, Germans and by the Russians. They were independent following the fall of Russia's tsar Nicholas II and were forced back under Russian, or Soviet, rule in 1940. They were emotional about getting Russian troops out and winning back their independence, which came with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the last of the Russian troops leaving in 1994.
In 2004, Estonia joined the European Union, and upset Russia by joining NATO.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "Estonia, a 2004 European Union entrant, has a modern market-based economy and one of the highest per capita income levels in Central Europe. Estonia's successive governments have pursued a free market, pro-business economic agenda and have wavered little in their commitment to pro-market reforms."
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $21,200 (just above Saudi Arabia and below Slovakia
2007 $21,800
2006 $20,400
GDP annual growth rate:
2008: -3%
2007: 6.3%
2006: 10.4%
Unemployment estimated for 2008: 6.2%
Deaths: 13.35. Births: 10.28, up from 9.91 in 2005
Estimate for July 2008: 1.3 million. Growth rate estimated for 2008: minus 0.632 percent per year.
2008 estimate: More leaving than arriving. A net loss of 3.24 persons per 1,000 population, about the same as 2005, when most were going to Finland and almost as many to Germany.
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 7.45, up from 7.07 in 2005 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births)
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 72.56 up from 71.77 in 2005
Estonia spent $243 for health care per person in 1999, compared to $28 per person in the Ukraine and $85 for Belarus. For Finland this figure is $1,704 and for Sweden $2,145.
Estonia has a Russian minority at around 29 percent of its population. It is divided among Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox and various other Protestant denominations. Catholics in 2002 were 0.4 percent of the population
.From Soviet times, Estonians suffered air pollution from oil-shale burning power plants and extensive pollution of war. By the year 2000 the air pollution was reduces to 80 percent what they had been in 1980, and by 2000 the discharging of unpurified wastewater into the environment was reduced to one-twentieth the amount in 1980. At points, coastal water remains polluted.
For every thousand persons, Estonia has 3.23 in prison, compared to 5.7 for Russia, 0.94 for France and 1.11 for Canada.
Around 33 percent of Estonia's population access the internet, compared to 40 percent for the United Kingdom, 4 percent for Russia and 1.8 percent for the Ukraine.
Its all-time per capita medal wins at Olympic summer games puts it in eleventh among nations, between New Zealand and Australia.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/desto.html
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.