Interesting facts about Estonia
How much do you know about Estonia? Read on, and you might find a fact or two that surprises you!
Fast facts about Estonia
Population
1,373,101
Official language
Estonian
Currency
EUR
Area
45,335 km2
Population density
30.3/km2
Member
European Union, Eurozone, Schengen Area, NATO, OECD
Can you drink the tap water?
Yes! You can also request it at restaurants.
Electrical appliances
C and F plugs, 230V supply voltage and 50Hz
When you think of Estonia, what comes to mind?
Here are ten more facts about Estonia that might surprise you.
1. Estonia has some of the cleanest air in the world.
The 2023 World Air Quality Report, published by Swiss air quality organization AirIQ, summarized PM2.5 (fine inhalable particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometers and smaller) data from 7,812 cities in 134 countries, regions, and territories.
Based on data from more than 30,000 monitoring stations globally, the report shows that only seven countries – Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand – meet the World Health Organization’s guidelines of five micrograms of fine particulate matter per cubic meter of air. With 4.7 micrograms, Estonia ranks second in Europe, right after Iceland.
Source: Hans Markus Antson
2. Tallinn may be Estonia’s capital, but it has some intriguing Danish ties.
A legend says that in 1219, during a battle between the Danes and the local non-Christian inhabitants, the red flag with the white cross — the Dannebrog — fell from the sky as a sign of divine intervention, giving the Danes renewed hope and strength to win the battle.
Danish rule of Tallinn and northern Estonia started in 1219 until the king of Denmark sold the city and other lands in North Estonia to the Teutonic Knights in 1346. Due to its key location along the trade route between what would later become Russia to the East and Western Europe, Tallinn was an important city in the Hanseatic League. Though the city was commonly known as Reval until 1918, the name “Tallinn” is thought to derive from the phrase meaning “Danish-castle” — “Taani-linna.”
Source: Giulio Gröbert
How to say “Estonia” in other languages
Estonian
Eesti
German
Estland
Finnish
Viro
Latvian
Igaunija
Swedish
Estland
French
Estonie
3. Estonia has one of the most digitally advanced societies in the world.
With 99% of all government services available online, Estonia is considered to have one of the world’s most sophisticated digital infrastructures. The only government service not available online is divorce; paying taxes takes less than five minutes, and over 51% of the votes in the last election were cast online.
Estonia has the most start-ups per capita in Europe; these ten unicorns — companies valued at over one billion dollars — have had Estonian founder(s), headquarters, or a significant part of research and development based in Estonia: Skype in 2005, Playtech in 2007, Wise in 2015, Bolt in 2018, Pipedrive in 2020, Zego, ID.me and Gelato in 2021, and Veriff and Glia in 2022.
Source: Johannes Arro
4. Estonia has five seasons.
Each year, Estonia experiences the “the fifth season” phenomenon between winter and spring. Created by a temporary rise in the water levels after the winter snow thaws, the season is characterized by annual flooding. The fifth season is best seen in Soomaa National Park, where the residents once used haabjas, or expanded dugout canoes, as a means of transportation over the flooded fields and forests.
Another highlight during the season is the Tuhala Witch’s Well, when excess water from the bog fills an underground river, and the overflowing river water seeks an escape through the well. The water overflows for only a short time, usually in late March or early April, though it doesn’t happen every year.
Source: Hillary Millán
Did you know... ?
Landscape
No point in Estonia is more than 10 kilometers from a bog.
Agriculture
More than one-fifth of Estonian farmland is certified organic.
Nature conservation
Wildlife preserves comprise 23% of Estonia.
5. You can go snowshoeing without snow.
Snowshoes can be used year-round in Estonia — in winter, you can tromp through snow-covered forests and fields, and in summer, you can use them to walk over waterlogged bogs. We call them bogshoes in the summer to indicate exactly what they’re used for, but they are essentially the same as snowshoes, as you strap them over your normal shoes, distributing your weight over a wider area to keep you from sinking.
Bogs cover one-fifth of the Estonian landscape, the oldest dating back over 10,000 years. They are a crucial part of Estonian culture and folklore; even the Forest Brothers hid in bogs to escape the Soviet forces.
Source: Juhani Särglep, Visit Pärnu
6. Saaremaa, Estonia’s biggest island, is larger than the entire country of Luxembourg.
However, it has only a fraction of the population — about 670,000 people in Luxembourg, but only about 30,000 live on Saaremaa. What does this mean for the visitor? No crowds and room to breathe, even during summer!
Despite the island’s relatively small population, Saaremaa has played a major role in Estonian history. Scandinavian raiders plied the waters of the eastern Baltic decades before the official start of the Viking Age, as the Salme ship burials on Saaremaa predate the first recorded Viking raid by 50 to 100 years. During the Middle Ages, Kuressaare was an important port city, and Kuressaare Episcopal Castle was erected to protect it.
Source: Valmar Voolaid, Visit Saaremaa
7. Arvo Pärt has been in the top two most-performed living composers since 2011.
He was the most-performed living composer from 2011 to 2018 and then again in 2022. He was the second-most-performed in 2019 and 2023 after John Williams. Pärt's songs can be heard in the background of Hollywood productions like Gravity, Fahrenheit 9/11, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and There Will Be Blood. The Arvo Pärt Centre houses his archives, a library, a 150-seat auditorium, an exhibition hall, a video room, and classrooms in a modern building that blends in with the quiet pine forests of Lauslasmaa.
Estonia is also the homeland of a talented musical family that gave rise to three generations of celebrated conductors: Neeme, Paavo, and Kristjan Järvi. Their work with the world’s most prestigious orchestras means they spend much of the year outside Estonia. Still, every summer, they return for the Pärnu Music Festival and the Järvi Academy, which brings some of the best musicians in the world to Estonia’s summer capital to work with young Estonian musicians.
Source: Jelena Rudi, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
8. Estonian children learn to identify mushrooms in school.
Foraging is a big part of Estonia’s food culture. And it’s not only mushrooms. In spring, Estonians look for wild garlic to make into pesto or blend into butter or cottage cheese and tap birch trees for a refreshing drink called kasemahl. From mid-July to October, the bogs and forests are teeming with berries and mushrooms, and you can even participate in tours led by an experienced forager who imparts their wisdom on what to pick and how to store the produce through the winter.
Estonia’s fine-dining restaurants and chefs’ tables often center around seasonal and foraged produce, so you can try these wild delicacies without getting your hands dirty.
Source: Karl Ander Adami
9. Estonia’s connection to Sweden runs deep, from King Gustavus Adolphus to ABBA.
Sweden ruled Estonia from 1561 to 1710. During that time, King Gustavus Adolphus established Tartu University, Estonia’s oldest and largest university, and other educational institutions. Even after Estonia became part of the Russian Empire in 1721, Coastal Swedes inhabited much of Estonia’s west coast and the island. In 1944, most members of the Coastal Swedish communities fled to Sweden when faced with the impending Soviet occupation.
Many other Estonians fled to Sweden to escape the Soviets, including the family of former president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who was born in Stockholm. This is also where the ABBA connection comes in — Jaan Manitski, ABBA’s financial manager for many years, was born in Viinistu, Estonia, and grew up in Sweden. He returned to Estonia after the occupation and served as foreign minister in 1992. He opened Viinistu Art Museum, which houses his personal art collection, in 2002.
Source: Priidu Saart
10. Estonia is a nation of seafarers.
In the novel To Have or Have Not, Ernest Hemingway says, “In every port in the world, at least two Estonians can be found.” In a nation with 2,317 islands and over 3,500 kilometers of coastline, this is unsurprising. Estonians have made their living from the sea for centuries, either as sailors or fishermen, and fish, especially smoked fish, features heavily in coastal cuisine.
Men from Kihnu Island traditionally spent so much time at sea that Kihnu has been dubbed “the Island of Women,” as women have taken care of everything to keep the island running, from repairing farm equipment to passing on knitting patterns. Their unique cultural traditions are one of the 13 aspects of the Estonian culture and landscape listed by UNESCO.
Many Estonian refugees arrived in Sweden by boat, and some even continued their journey from there. During the late 1940s, at least 17 boats arrived in the United States, 11 reached Canada, seven sailed to Argentina, two landed in Brazil, and three made it all the way to South Africa. Their trips are detailed in VABAMU’s online exhibition, Free Winds.
Source: Lembit Michelson, Visit Saaremaa
Get inspired
Last updated
23.10.2024