Estonia

Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. Its capital Tallinn and Tartu are the two largest urban areas. The Estonian language is the official language and the first language of the majority of its population of c. 1.4 million. Estonia is one of the least populous members of the European Union and NATO. Present-day Estonia has been inhabited since at least 9,000 BC. The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last pagan civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianity following the Papal-sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 13th century. After centuries of foreign rule by the Teutonic Order, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, and the Russian Empire, a distinct Estonian national identity gained new momentum with the Estonian national awakening in the mid-19th century. This culminated in the 1918 Estonian Declaration of Independence from the then-warring Russian and German empires. Democratic throughout most of the interwar period, Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but the country was repeatedly contested, invaded, and occupied, first by the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1940, then Nazi Germany in 1941, and ultimately reoccupied in 1944 by, and annexed into, the USSR. Throughout the Soviet occupation, from World War II until 1991, Estonia's de jure state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile. Following the 1988–90 "Singing Revolution" against Soviet rule, full independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a developed country with a high-income advanced economy and Eurozone membership. It is a democratic unitary parliamentary republic, administratively subdivided into 15 maakond (counties). Estonia is among the least corrupt countries in the world and ranks very highly in international rankings for education, human development, press freedom, digitalisation of public services, and the prevalence of technology companies. One of the world's most digitally-advanced societies, since 2005, Estonia has been the first state to hold general elections over the Internet.