The Republic of Estonia is a country in Northern Europe , bordering the Baltic Sea to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the north. Estonia has land borders with its fellow Baltic state , Latvia , to the south, with Russia to the east, and maritime border with Finland to the north.

 

Geography

Between 57.3 and 59.5 latitude and 21.5 and 28.1 longitude, Estonia lies on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea on the level northwestern part of the rising east European platform. Average elevation reaches only 50 m.

Oil shale (or kukersite) and limestone deposits, along with forests which cover 47% of the land, play key economic roles in this generally resource-poor country. Estonia boasts over 1,400 lakes (most very small, with the largest, Lake Peipsi , being 3,555 km²), numerous bogs, and 3,794 kilometers of coastline marked by numerous bays, straits, and inlets. The number of islands and islets is estimated at some 1,500 with two large enough to constitute their own counties, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa .

Its highest point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeastern corner of the country (318 m).

Economy

As a member of the European Union , Estonia is part of the world's largest economic zone. In 1999 , Estonia experienced its worst year economically since it regained independence in 1991 , largely because of the impact of the August 1998 Russian financial crisis. Estonia joined the WTO in November 1999 - the second Baltic state to join - and continued its EU accession talks. Privatization of energy, telecommunications , railways, and other state-owned companies is a continuing process. Estonia completed most of its preparations for EU membership by the end of 2002 and now has one of the strongest economies of the new members states of the European Union , which Estonia joined on 1 May 2004 . The Estonian economy is growing fast, partly due to a number of Finnish companies relocating their routine operations, and has a strong IT sector. GDP PPP is at $12,300, the highest in the Baltic states .

In 1994, Estonia became among the first in the world to adopt a flat tax , with a uniform rate of 26% regardless of the income a person makes. In January 2005 the personal income tax rate was reduced to 24%.

Demographics

About seventy percent of the population consist of ethnic Estonians, with the rest from other former Soviet republics, mainly Russia , who predominantly live in the industrial north eastern county of Ida-Virumaa and in the capital Tallinn. There is also a small group of Finnish descent.

The country's official language is Estonian , which is closely related to Finnish . Russian is also widely spoken as is English .