Estonia

</image> <image source="map"></image> <label>Type</label> <label>Level</label> <label>Location</label> <label>Inhabitants</label> </infobox>Estonia is a liberal capitalist state in Eastern Europe near Finland, Russia and Latvia.

History

Estonia has been inhabited for around 11,000 years, with Ancient Estonians being some of the last Europeans to adopt Christianity. After centuries of successive rule by Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles and Russians, a distinct Estonian national identity began to emerge in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This culminated in independence from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I. Initially democratic prior to the Great Depression, Estonia experienced authoritarian rule from 1934 during the Era of Silence. During World War II Estonia was repeatedly contested and occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany, ultimately being incorporated into the former. After the loss of its de facto independence, Estonia's de jure state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile. In 1987 the peaceful Singing Revolution began against Soviet rule, resulting in the restoration of de facto independence on 20 August 1991. Since then, Estonia has developed into a technologically advanced, socially progressive social democracy.

Positives

• The capital city of Tallinn (population: 441,000 people) made public transport in the city completely free in 2013. This raised worker satisfaction (drivers no longer had to argue with fare evaders or sell tickets), reduced car use, increased the mobility of the poor; parents and pensioners. Contrary to the frequent predictions of skeptics, the quality of public transport was not lowered and vandalism did not increase. This is the largest area of the world with free public transport all year around.
• Estonia has one of the most well-educated populations in the world, considered to have the 13th highest quality education system in the world and with 89% of people aged 25-64 having finished high school, both above average for a first world country and some of the highest in the world.
• Estonia provides free universal healthcare to all of its citizens and it works very well. Estonia has the lowest maternal death rate in the world and a life expectancy of 78.6 years, the third-highest of any post-communist state (after Slovenia and Czechia).
• Estonia legalised homosexuality in 1992, just a year after independence from the homophobic USSR.
• Estonia provides the longest amount of maternity leave of any country in the world.
• Estonia is considered one of, if not the, freest country in the world. It scores highly on human development, gender equality, environmental protection, free time and peace indexes.
• Estonia has embraced the internet. Most public spaces have free Wi-Fi, you can get most government documents or do business online, it is ranked 1st in internet freedom globally and held the first elections that you could vote online in in 2005.

Negatives

• Estonia still has a large amount of racial discrimination against the Russian and Roma minorities in the country.
• Homophobia is common.
• Human trafficking is common.
• Estonia is oddly unhappy compared to other 'first world' countries.

Major Social Struggles

• 2012: Estonian Health Worker Strike