Country Profile — Estonia
Estonia is the most northerly of the three Baltic states, and has linguistic ties with Finland.
Since regaining its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia has become one of the most economically successful of the European Union's newer eastern European members.
Ruled at various times during the middle ages by Denmark, the German knights of the Livonian Order, and Sweden, Estonia ended up part of the Russian Empire in the 18th century.
It experienced its first period of independence in 1918, following the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Russian Empire.
Facts
- Republic of Estonia
- Capital: Tallinn
- Population 1.3 million
- Area 45,227 sq km (17,462 sq miles)
- Major languagesEstonian, Russian
- Major religion Christianity
- Life expectancy 70 years (men), 80 years (women)
- Currency euro
Television is Estonia's most popular medium, while print media are losing ground to online outlets.
The media market is lightly regulated. Three major companies, including Sweden's MTG, run the top commercial TVs.
Eesti Televisioon and Eesti Raadio are public broadcasters. Digital TV platforms offer stations in Finnish, Swedish, Russian and Latvian.
Estonia has a free media, according to groups such as Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders.
It has not followed the example of Lithuania and Latvia, which in 2014 and 2015 imposed rebroadcasting bans on some Russian TVs.
Estonia has a reputation for being at the cutting edge of information technology. By 2016, 1.2 million Estonians (around 91% of the population) were online (Internetlivestats.com).
The leading social network is Facebook. Russian-speakers favour Russian social media, especially Odnoklassniki and VKontakte.
Source BBC
For more media information contact Yvonne Foster:
07752492816