34 Facts About Estonia

1. Estonia has most start-ups per capita in Europe Estonia is the 132nd-smallest country in the world by land mass.

2. In 2018, Estonia was one of the founding members of the New Hanseatic League, an intra-EU grouping of Northern European member states focused around matters of fiscal policy.

3. Estonia is a parliamentary representative democratic republic in which the Prime Minister of Estonia is the head of government and which includes a multi-party system.

4. The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Parnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia.

5. Estonia has a population of just 1.3 million but is larger than Denmark and Holland.

6. Estonia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe.

7. Estonia is mainly a lowland country that is bordered by the Baltic Sea, Latvia, and Russia.

8. Estonia is east from the Baltic Sea and the northest of the Baltic States.

9. On 18 May 2005, Estonia signed a border treaty with the Russian Federation in Moscow.

10. In 1996, Estonia ratified a border agreement with Latvia and completed work with Russia on a technical border agreement.

11. Republic of Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940.

12. The Republic of Estonia obtained international recognition and became a member of the League of Nations in 1921.

13. The first Constitution of Estonia was adopted on 15 June 1920.

14. The earliest traces of human settlement in Estonia are connected with the Kunda culture.

15. Estonia is a European country located in the Baltic region of northern Europe.

16. Estonia is a very tech-savvy country, with most classrooms and homes having an Internet connection.

17. Estonia is a Northern European country that has suffered more than its fair share of occupation.

18. Estonia is a mostly flat country on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.

19. Estonia is the only Baltic country with far-stretching and deep rooted island culture.

20. Estonia has two healthcare hubs: its capital, Tallinn, and Tartu, its second largest city, due to the university hospital and medical faculty at the University of Tartu.

21. Estonia is bordered on the north by the Gulf of Finland, the west border shares the Baltic Sea with Sweden, and the south and east border Latvia and Russia.

22. Estonia has had very good success at the Olympic games given the country's small population.

23. The most typical foods in Estonia are black bread, pork, potatoes, and dairy products.

24. The first public TV broadcast in Estonia was in July 1955.

25. Estonia has accepted quota refugees under the migrant plan agreed upon by EU member states in 2015.

26. In 2004, the Ingrian Finnish minority in Estonia elected a cultural council and was granted cultural autonomy.

27. Estonia has the third lowest business bribery risk in the world, according to TRACE Matrix.

28. Estonia has built close relationship with the Nordic countries, especially Finland and Sweden, and is a member of Nordic-Baltic Eight uniting Nordic and Baltic countries.

29. In 2007 Estonia joined the Schengen Area, and in 2011 the Eurozone.

30. In June 1919, Estonia defeated the German Landeswehr which had attempted to dominate Latvia, restoring power to the government of Karlis Ulmanis there.

31. Estonia is a country in Northern Europe on the coast on the Baltic Sea.

32. Estonia has emerged as a top-performer on PISA, raising the question of how this former Soviet Republic created one of the strongest education systems in the world over the past twenty years.

33. Estonia has topped the Tax Foundation's International Tax Competitiveness Index for the fifth successive year, being deemed to have the "best tax code in the OECD.

34. Estonia is still clearing thousands of World War II mines from its waters.