Estonia Map

• The Reformation in Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther (1483–1546) and his 95 Theses. The Reformation resulted in great change in the Baltic region. Ideas entered the Livonian Confederation very quickly and by the 1520s they were well known. Language, education, religion, and politics were greatly transformed. The Church services were now given in the local vernacular, instead of Latin, as was previously used. During the Livonian War in 1561, northern Estonia submitted to Swedish control. Southern Estonia in 1560s formed an autonomous Duchy of Livonia in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under joint control of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy, containing two voivodeships of present-day Estonia: Dorpat Voivodeship (Tartu region) and Parnawa Voivodeship (Pärnu region). In 1629, mainland Estonia came entirely under Swedish rule. Estonia was administratively divided between the provinces of Estonia in the north and Livonia in southern Estonia and northern Latvia, a division which persisted until the early 20th century.

• In 1631, the Swedish king Gustaf II Adolf forced the nobility to grant the peasantry greater rights, although serfdom was retained. In 1632, a printing press and university were established in the city of Dorpat (known as Tartu since 1918). This period is known in Estonian history as "the Good Old Swedish Time."

• The steady growth of the population continued until the outbreak of the plague in 1657. The Great Famine of 1695–97 killed some 70,000 people – almost 20% of the population.

• Politics of Estonia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic in which the Prime Minister of Estonia is the head of government and of a multi-party system. The political culture is very stable in Estonia, where the power is held between two to three parties, that have been in politics for a long time. This situation is similar to other countries in Northern Europe. The current prime minister of Estonia, Andrus Ansip, is the longest-serving prime minister in Europe.

• Estonia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and individual rights to privacy of belief and religion. The largest religious faith in the country is Evangelical Lutheranism, adhered to by 14.8% of the population, principally ethnic Estonians. Just behind this group in size is the Eastern Orthodox, practised chiefly by the Russian minority.

• According to the Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Estonia is the least religious country in the world with 75.7% of the population claiming to be irreligious. The Eurobarometer Poll 2005 found that only 16% of Estonians profess a belief in a God, the lowest belief of all countries studied (EU study). However in the same study, 54% of Estonians, while not believing in a God, professed belief in a spirit or life force.

• According to the census of 2000, there were about 152,000 Lutherans, 143,000 Orthodox Christians, 5,000 Roman Catholics, 3,700 Jehovah's Witnesses and 1,000 adherents of Taaraism or Maausk in Estonia (see Maavalla Koda). There is a Jewish community in Estonia, with an estimated population of about 1,900 (see History of the Jews in Estonia). In addition there were around 68,000 people who declared themselves to be atheists.

• The country was Christianised by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. During the Reformation, Protestantism spread, and the Lutheran church was officially established in Estonia in 1686. Still, many Estonians profess not to be particularly religious, because religion through the 19th century was associated with German feudal rule. Historically there has been also another minority religion, Russian Old-believers, near Lake Peipus area in Tartu County.

• By 1929, a stable currency, the kroon, was established. It is issued by the Bank of Estonia, the country's central bank. Trade focused on the local market and the West, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom. Only 3% of all commerce was with the USSR.

• Before the Second World War Estonia was mainly an agricultural country whose products such as butter, milk and cheese were widely known on the western European markets. The USSR's forcible annexation of Estonia in 1940 and the ensuing Nazi and Soviet occupation during World War II crippled the Estonian economy. Post-war Sovietization of life continued with the integration of Estonia's economy and industry into the USSR's centrally planned structure.

• Since re-establishing independence, Estonia has styled itself as the gateway between East and West and aggressively pursued economic reform and integration with the West. Estonia's market reforms put it among the economic leaders in the former COMECON area. In 1994, Estonia became one of the first countries to adopt a flat tax, with a uniform rate of 26% regardless of personal income. In January 2005, the personal income tax rate was reduced to 24%. Another reduction to 23% followed in January 2006. The income tax rate was decreased to 21% by January 2008. The Government of Estonia finalised the design of Estonian euro coins in late 2004, and adopted the euro as the country's currency on 1 January 2011, later than planned due to continued high inflation. Although Estonia is the poorest member of eurozone and constitutes only 0.2% of its gross domestic product, the country's debt and deficit levels are among the lowest in the group.

• In 1999, Estonia experienced its worst year economically since it regained independence in 1991, largely because of the impact of the 1998 Russian financial crisis. Estonia joined the WTO in November 1999. With assistance from the European Union, the World Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank, Estonia completed most of its preparations for European Union membership by the end of 2002 and now has one of the strongest economies of the new member states of the European Union. Estonia joined OECD in 2010.

• Today's Estonia is a multinational country where, according to the 2000 census, altogether 109 languages are spoken. 67.3% of Estonian citizens speak Estonian as their native language, 29.7% – Russian and 3% speak other languages. As of 2 July 2010, 84.1% of Estonian residents are Estonian citizens, 8.6% are citizens of other countries and 7.3% are "citizens with undetermined citizenship". Since 1992 roughly 140,000 people have acquired Estonian citizenship through naturalization.

• The ethnic distribution in Estonia is very homogenous, where in most counties, over 90% of the people are ethnic Estonians. There is a bigger difference in larger cities like Tallinn, where Estonians account for 60% of the population. The rest is mainly comprised from Russian- and other slavic background habitat, who arrived in Estonia during the Soviet Occupation.

• According to the surveys only 5% of the Russian community have thought of turning back to Russia in the near future. Estonian Russians have developed their own identity – more than half of the respondents recognised that Estonian Russians differ noticeably from the Russians in Russia. When comparing the result with a survey from 2000, then Russians’ attitude towards the future is much more positive.

• Women are leading Estonia's scientific society. In 2006, over 60% of the scientists in Estonia were women.