Query: Estonia is a country.

Relevant passages:
Electronic voting in Estonia <=SEP=> The idea of having electronic voting in Estonia gained popularity in 2001 with the `` e-minded '' coalition government . Estonia became the first nation to hold legally binding general elections over the Internet with their pilot project for the municipal elections in 2005 .  The electronic voting system withstood the test of reality and was declared a success by Estonian election officials .  The Estonian parliamentary election in 2007 also used internet voting , another world first .

Estonia <=SEP=> Estonia ( -LSB- ɛˈstoʊniə -RSB- Eesti -LSB- ˈeːsti -RSB- ) , officially the Republic of Estonia ( -LSB- Eesti Vabariik , links = no -RSB- ) , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe . It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland , to the west by the Baltic Sea , to the south by Latvia ( 343 km ) , and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia ( 338.6 km ) . Across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north . The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea , covering 45339 km2 of land and water , and is influenced by a humid continental climate .   The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC , with Finno-Ugric speakers -- the linguistic ancestors of modern Estonians -- arriving no later than around 1800 BC . Following centuries of successive German , Danish , Swedish , and Russian rule , Estonians experienced a national awakening that culminated in independence from the Russian Empire towards the end of World War I . During World War II , Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 , then by Nazi Germany a year later and was again annexed by the Soviets in 1944 , after which it was reconstituted as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic . In 1988 , during the Singing Revolution , the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule , and independence was restored on 20 August 1991 .   Estonia is a democratic parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties . Its capital and largest city is Tallinn . With a population of 1.3 million , it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union , Eurozone , North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , OECD and Schengen Area .   Ethnic Estonians are a Finnic people , sharing close cultural ties with their northern neighbour , Finland , and the official language , Estonian , is a Finno-Ugric language closely related to Finnish and the Sami languages , and distantly to Hungarian .   Estonia is a developed country with an advanced , high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU . Its Human Development Index ranks very highly , and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom , civil liberties and press freedom ( 3rd in the world in 2012 and 2007 ) . The 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world , behind Singapore and Japan .   Citizens of Estonia are provided with universal health care , free education and the longest paid maternity leave in the OECD . Since independence the country has rapidly developed its IT sector , becoming one of the world 's most digitally advanced societies . In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet , and in 2014 the first nation to provide E-residency .

Press Freedom Index <=SEP=> The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders based upon the organisation 's own assessment of the countries ' press freedom records in the previous year . It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists , news organisations , and netizens have in each country , and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom . Reporters Without Borders is careful to note that the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism nor does it look at human rights violations in general .

Estonians <=SEP=> Estonians ( eestlased ) are a Finnic ethnic group related to the Finns that mainly inhabit Estonia , a country located south of Finland and the Finnish Gulf . Their national language belongs to Finnic branch and is known as Estonian ( eesti keel ) .   Although Estonia is often geopolitically categorized as one of the Baltics , Estonians are linguistically , culturally and historically related to the neighboring Finns -- both belonging to the Finnic people -- differing from the non-Finnic Indo-European speaking Baltic peoples of Latvia and Lithuania .

Parliamentary system <=SEP=> A parliamentary system is a system of democratic governance of a state where the executive branch derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the confidence of the legislative branch , typically a parliament , and is also held accountable to that parliament . In a parliamentary system , the head of state is usually a different person from the head of government . This is in contrast to a presidential system , where the head of state often is also the head of government , and most importantly , the executive branch does not derive its democratic legitimacy from the legislature .   Countries with parliamentary systems may be constitutional monarchies , where a monarch is the head of state while the head of government is almost always a member of parliament ( such as the United Kingdom , Denmark , Sweden and Japan ) , or parliamentary republics , where a mostly ceremonial president is the head of state while the head of government is regularly from the legislature ( such as Ireland , Germany , India and Italy ) . In a few parliamentary republics , such as Botswana , South Africa , and Suriname , among some others , the head of government is also head of state , but is elected by and is answerable to parliament . In bicameral parliaments , the head of government is generally , though not always , a member of the lower house .

Schengen Area <=SEP=> The Schengen Area ( -LSB- pronˈʃɛŋən -RSB- , -LSB- ˈʃɛŋgən -RSB- ) is an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders . The area mostly functions as a single country for international travel purposes , with a common visa policy . The area is named after the Schengen Agreement . States in the Schengen Area have eliminated border controls with other Schengen members and strengthened border controls with non-Schengen countries .   Twenty-two of the twenty-eight European Union ( EU ) member states participate in the Schengen Area . Of the six EU members that are not part of the Schengen Area , four -- Bulgaria , Croatia , Cyprus , and Romania -- are legally obliged to join the area , while the other two -- the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom -- maintain opt-outs . The four European Free Trade Association ( EFTA ) member states , Iceland , Liechtenstein , Norway , and Switzerland , are not members of the EU , but have signed agreements in association with the Schengen Agreement . Three European microstates -- Monaco , San Marino , and Vatican City -- can be considered de facto participants .   The Schengen Area has a population of over 400 million people and an area of 4312099 km2 .   As a result of the migration crisis ongoing as of early 2017 , Austria , Denmark , Germany , Norway and Sweden temporarily imposed controls on some or all of their borders with other Schengen states . Following the November 2015 Paris attacks and subsequent attacks in France , France declared a state of emergency , which has included measures to control borders with other Schengen states . These countries look to remove their temporary restrictions soon and reopen their borders to other Schengen states .

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic <=SEP=> The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic ( Estonian SSR or ESSR ; Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik ENSV ; Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика ЭССР , Estonskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika ESSR ) , also known as Soviet Estonia or Estonia was a republic of the Soviet Union , administered by a subordinate of the Government of the Soviet Union . The ESSR was initially established on the territory of the Republic of Estonia on July 21 , 1940 , following the invasion of Soviet troops on June 17 , 1940 , and the installation of a puppet government backed by the Soviet Union , which declared Estonia a Soviet state . The Estonian SSR was subsequently incorporated into the USSR on August 9 , 1940 . The territory was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944 .   Most countries did not recognise the incorporation of Estonia de jure and only recognised its Soviet government de facto or not at all . A number of these countries continued to recognize Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former government . This policy of non-recognition gave rise to the principle of legal continuity , which held that de jure , Estonia remained an independent state under occupation throughout the period 1940 -- 91 .   On 16 November 1988 , the Estonian SSR became the first republic within the Soviet sphere of influence to declare state sovereignty from Moscow . On 30 March 1990 , the Estonian SSR declared that Estonia had been occupied since 1940 and declared a transitional period for the country 's full independence . The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed as the Republic of Estonia on May 8 , 1990 . The independence of the Republic of Estonia was re-established on August 20 during the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt the following year and the Soviet Union itself recognized the independence of Estonia on September 6 , 1991 .