Estonia  (), officially the Republic of Estonia () is a small country in the Baltic Region of Northern Europe. The capital city is Tallinn. Estonia's neighbors are Sweden, Finland, Russia and Latvia. Its population is 1,332,893.

The territory of Estonia has the mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea.

History
People have lived in Estonia since at least 9,000 BC. The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the Pärnu River.

Estonia became independent from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I. During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany. It then became the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and lost its independence.

Estonia had its independence restored in 1991. It became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 29 March 2004. It joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.

In January 2021, Estonia became the only country in the world led by women by having a female president (Kersti Kaljulaid) and female prime minister (Kaja Kallas). A few months later, Alar Karis replaced Kaljulaid as president.

Geography
Estonia is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden on the other side, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km).

Average elevation reaches only . The country's highest point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeast at .

Estonia has many forests, almost 50% of the land is covered with forests. The most common tree species are pine, spruce and birch. Estonia has over 1,400 lakes and over 2,000 islands. The longest rivers are Võhandu (), Pärnu (), and Põltsamaa ().

Biodiversity
Mammals in Estonia include the grey wolf, lynx, brown bear, red fox, badger, wild boar, moose, red deer, roe deer, beaver, otter, grey seal, and ringed seal. The critically endangered European mink has been successfully reintroduced to the island of Hiiumaa. The rare Siberian flying squirrel is present in east Estonia.

Over 300 bird species have been found in Estonia. These include the white-tailed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, golden eagle, western capercaillie, black and white stork, many species of owls, waders, geese and many others. The Barn swallow is the national bird of Estonia.

Protected areas cover 18% of Estonian land and 26% of its sea territory. There are 5 national parks, 159 nature reserves, and many other protection areas.

Government
The Riigikogu is the name of the parliament in Estonia.

Administrative regions

Since administrative reform in 2017, there are in total 79 local governments. This includes 15 towns and 64 rural municipalities. All municipalities have equal legal status and form part of a county, which is a state administrative unit.

The counties are:
  Harju County
  Hiiu County
  Ida-Viru County
  Jõgeva County
  Järva County
  Lääne County
  Lääne-Viru County
  Põlva County
  Pärnu County
  Rapla County
  Saare County
  Tartu County
  Valga County
  Viljandi County
  Võru County

Culture

According to speedtest.net, Estonia has one of the fastest Internet download speeds in the world with an average download speed of 27.12 Mbit/s.

Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. In 2002, Estonia hosted the event.

The Estonian National Day is the Independence Day celebrated on 24 February. This is the day the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued. , there are 12 public holidays and 12 national holidays celebrated each year.

International rankings
The following are links to international rankings of Estonia.

Related pages
 Estonia at the Olympics
 Estonia national football team
 List of rivers of Estonia

References

Other websites 

 Official State Website

 
European Union member states
1991 establishments in Europe