Estonia

**Estonia**  (), officially the **Republic of Estonia** () is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. The capital city is Tallinn. Estonia has borders with Sweden, Finland, Russia and Latvia. Its population is 1,332,893.

The territory includes 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.

At the end of World War I (1914-1918) Estonia became an independent country in 1918. Estonia won the War of Independence (1918-1920) against Soviet Russia. During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia lost its independence as it was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and occupied again by the Soviet army in 1944. The occupied country was called the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic by the Soviets.

Estonia restored independence from the Soviet Union in August 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.

## Politics

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 and in 2024 Kristen Michal replaced Kallas as Prime minister.

As of 2025, Estonia plans to spend each year more than 5% of GDP on defence.

## 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.

In June 2023, the Estonian government passed a bill legalising same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption in Estonia. The bill went into effect on 1 January 2024, making Estonia the first Baltic state and country formerly occupied by the Soviet Union to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption.

## International rankings

The following are links to international rankings of Estonia.
|style="width:60%;"|Index|style="width:15%;"|Rank|style="width:20%;"|Countries reviewed|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="left"|Freedom House Internet Freedom 2016|1|65|||
|align="left"|International Tax Competitiveness Index 2023|1|38|||
|align="left"|Environmental Performance Index 2016|8|180|||
|align="left"|Index of Economic Freedom 2017|6|180|||
|align="left"|Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2011–2012|11|187|||
|align="left"|State of World Liberty Index 2006|1|159|||
|align="left"|Human Development Index 2019|30|189|||
|align="left"|Corruption Perceptions Index 2016|22|176|||
|TRACE Matrix business bribery risk 2016|3|199||||
|align="left"|Networked Readiness Index 2014|21|133|||
|align="left"|Ease of Doing Business Index 2017|12|190|||
|align="left"|State of The World's Children's Index 2012|10|165|||
|align="left"|State of The World's Women's Index 2012|18|165|||
|align="left"|World Freedom Index 2014|8|165|||
|align="left"|Legatum Prosperity Index 2019|21|149|||

## Related pages

- Estonia at the Olympics
- Estonia national football team
- List of rivers of Estonia

## Other websites

- Official State Website

## Infobox (country)

- **conventional long name**: Republic of Estonia
- **common name**: Estonia
- **image flag**: Flag of Estonia.svg
- **image coat**: Coat of arms of Estonia.svg
- **symbol width**: 88px
- **national anthem**:
_Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm_
(English: "My Fatherland, My Happiness and Joy")

- **image map**: EU-Estonia.svg
- **capital**: Tallinn
- **largest city**: capital
- **languages type**: Official language
- **languages**: Estonian language, Estonian
- **demonym**: Estonian
- **ethnic groups year**: 2025
- **religion**: * 58.4% Irreligion in Estonia, no religion
* 26.7% Christianity
** 16.3% Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia, Eastern Orthodoxy
** 7.7% Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lutheranism
** 2.7% other Christian
* 12.7% undeclared
* 2.1% Religion in Estonia, other religion
- **religion year**: 2021
- **government type**: Unitary parliamentary republic
- **leader title1**: President of Estonia, President
- **leader name1**: Alar Karis
- **leader title2**: Prime Minister of Estonia, Prime Minister
- **leader name2**: Kristen Michal
- **legislature**: Riigikogu
- **sovereignty type**: History of Estonia, Independence
- **sovereignty note**: from Russian Republic, Russian and German Empires
- **established event1**: Estonian Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence
- **established date1**: 24 February 1918
- **established event4**: Occupation of the Baltic states, German and Soviet occupations
- **established date4**: 1940–1991
- **established event5**: Estonian Restoration of Independence, Restoration of Independence
- **established date5**: 20 August 1991
- **area km2**: 45,335
- **area rank**: 129th<sup>d</sup>
- **area sq mi**: 17,505
- **percent water**: 4.6
- **population estimate**: 1,373,101
- **population census**: 1,331,824
- **population estimate year**: 2024
- **population census year**: 2021
- **population density km2**: 30.3
- **population density sq mi**: 75
- **population density rank**: 148th
- **gdp ppp**: $68.240 billion
- **gdp ppp year**: 2025
- **gdp ppp rank**: 119th
- **gdp ppp per capita**: $49,670
- **gdp ppp per capita rank**: 42nd
- **gdp nominal**: $45.00 billion
- **gdp nominal year**: 2025
- **gdp nominal rank**: 99th
- **gdp nominal per capita**: $32,760
- **gdp nominal per capita rank**: 37th
- **gini**: 30.6
- **gini year**: 2021
- **gini change**: increase
- **hdi**: 0.905
- **hdi rank**: 36th
- **hdi year**: 2023
- **hdi change**: increase
- **hdi ref**: >
- **currency**: Euro (€)
- **currency code**: EUR
- **time zone**: Eastern European Time, EET
- **utc offset**: +02:00
- **utc offset dst**: +03:00
- **time zone dst**: Eastern European Summer Time, EEST
- **calling code**: Telephone numbers in Estonia, +372
- **cctld**: .ee