About Estonia

Background

After centuries of Danish, Swedish, German, and Russian rule, Estonia attained independence in 1918. Forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US - it regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since the last Russian troops left in 1994, Estonia has been free to promote economic and political ties with Western Europe. It joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.

Population
1,315,912 (July 2007 est.)

Age structure
0-14 years: 15% (male 101,430/female 95,658)
15-64 years: 67.5% (male 423,664/female 464,813)
65 years and over: 17.5% (male 76,344/female 154,003) (2007 est.)

Population growth rate
-0.635% (2007 est.)

Birth rate
10.17 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Net migration rate
-3.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Infant morality rate
total: 7.59 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 8.77 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 6.34 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Total fertility rate
1.41 children born/woman (2007 est.)

Ethnic groups
Estonian 67.9%, Russian 25.6%, Ukrainian 2.1%, Belarusian 1.3%, Finn 0.9%, other 2.2% (2000 census)

Religions
Evangelical Lutheran 13.6%, Orthodox 12.8%, other Christian (including Methodist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal) 1.4%, unaffiliated 34.1%, other and unspecified 32%, none 6.1% (2000 census)

Languages
Estonian (official) 67.3%, Russian 29.7%, other 2.3%, unknown 0.7% (2000 census)

GDP - real growth rate
9.8% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita
$19,600 (2006 est.)

Unemployment rate
4.5% (2006)

Population below poverty line
5% (2003)