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  • In October 2016, the Baltic country of Estonia elected its first female president.

  • But one could argue that she doesn't have much to govern.

  • Estonia is bigger than Switzerland, but its population is comparable to the US state of

  • Maine.

  • So what is life really like in Estonia?

  • Well, Estonia was once a socialist Soviet Republic.

  • However since regaining independence in 1991, the country has joined the EU, NATO, as well

  • as the OECD, and has firmly positioned itself as politically, culturally and economically

  • western.

  • Estonia’s free market economy is growing every year, and its government debt is among

  • the lowest in Europe.

  • That said, the country has a considerable income gap, with the top 20% of the population

  • earning more than five times as much as the bottom 20%.

  • Estonia’s economy and culture is heavily focused on technology.

  • In 2000, the country declared internet access to be a human right and has since established

  • hundreds of free wifi zones.

  • Estonia has also fully digitized its government services, and was the first country to allow

  • online voting in a general election.

  • Like many other Baltic and Nordic countries, Estonia is extremely homogenous, with nearly

  • 70 percent of the population being ethnic Estonian.

  • Russians are the largest ethnic minority, representing roughly a quarter of the population.

  • But perhaps surprisingly, Estonian culture takes little influence from Russian culture,

  • and instead positions itself closer to its Nordic neighbors, like Finland.

  • Finnish and Estonian people enjoy similar cuisines, and both have a tradition of relaxing

  • in saunas in the winter.

  • Estonia has even pushed for ascension into the Nordic Council, arguing that it lost the

  • opportunity for membership during Soviet rule.

  • Like its neighbors Finland and Russia, Estonia struggles with widespread alcoholism.

  • The average Estonian drinks an estimated 3 gallons of alcohol annually, and experts say

  • somewhere between 1,500 and 2 thousand Estonians die from alcohol consumption each year.

  • Thats a lot of deaths for country with just over a million people.

  • In the scope of Europe, Estonia is unique in that religion is not very widespread.

  • Although Christianity is the country’s primary faith, only 28 percent of the population identify

  • as religious, and only 16 percent of Estonian adults say they believe in God.

  • As a result, Estonian values tend to be less traditional.

  • The country has the highest rate of unmarried adults in the EU in part because so many couples

  • live together without opting for marriage, which is not as culturally important as it

  • is in other countries.

  • Most Estonians live in urban areas.

  • In fact nearly a third of its population live in its capital city, Tallinn.

  • Tallinn is often called theSilicon Valley of Europe’, as it has more startups per

  • person than any other European country.

  • Many of these small business have actually grown into global companies.

  • One example is Skype.

  • The city also rolled out free public transit in 2013, and is now making a $22 million dollar

  • annual profit from the project.

  • There’s no doubt Estonia is modern, progressive and highly developed.

  • The country is considered high-income, and consistently ranks highly in education, press

  • freedom, quality of life and overall human development.

  • Barring the harsh winters and relative isolation, life in Estonia doesn’t sound too bad.

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  • Even though Estonia likes to think of itself as Nordic, the country is actually Baltic.

  • But what exactly does that mean?

  • And how much power do Baltic states have?

  • Find out in this video.

  • Find out in this video.

  • Thanks for watching Seeker Daily!

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In October 2016, the Baltic country of Estonia elected its first female president.

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