December 06, 2012
You may be wondering why we chose Estonia for this blog. We don’t receive too many academic documents from Estonia for evaluation and have not had the opportunity to visit this country, at least not yet! But when we asked one of our staff to pick a country, he chose Estonia. So, here are some non-evaluation related facts you may enjoy about this country in northeastern Europe.
Let’s get started with “tere” which means Hello in Estonian!
Fact 1:
While the official capital of Estonia is Tallinn, the country is unique because it has more than one recognized capital. In fact, it has several capitals that change throughout the year. Tartu is established as the “cultural capital of Estonia”, while Parnu is known as the “summer capital”.
Fact 2:
Estonia was the first country in the world to use online political voting.
Fact 3:
Estonia has two Independence Days. It first achieved independence from the Soviet Union on February 24, 1918 and again on August 20, 1991 after 51 years of occupation. The second date is known as the “Restoration of Independence Day.”
Fact 4:
Estonian is the official language. Russian is also widely spoken.
Fact 5:
The Estonian currency was the Kroon, but they have joined the Euro-zone and Euro is their official currency now.
Fact 6:
Even though Estonia is considered to be a part of the Baltic countries; Latvia and Lithuania, there is no real political alliance.
Fact 7:
Estonia is named after the “Ests” who inhabited the region in the first Century AD.
Fact 8:
Estonia is the least religious country in the world with only 14% of the population claiming any religious beliefs.
Fact 9:
Almost 50% of Estonia is covered by forest.
Fact 10:
Estonia has a population of 1.3 million and one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe.
Fact 11:
Estonia has the highest number of meteorite craters per land area in the world.
Fact 12:
Estonia is the homeland of Skype, Hotmail and KaZaA.
Fact 13:
All Estonian schools are connected to the Internet.
Fact 14:
Chess Grandmaster Paul Keres was born in Estonia. When he died in 1975, over 100,000 people attended his funeral (10% of the country’s entire population).
Fact 15:
Out of the nearly 200 countries in the world, Estonia ranks in the second place with a literacy rate of 99.8%.
Fact 16:
In 1994, Estonia became the first country to institute the flat income tax.
Fact 17:
They have the biggest collection of folk songs in the world with written records of 133,000 folk songs.
Fact 18:
The Estonians invented Kiiking, which is considered a sport. It involves fastening yourself to an enormous standing steal swing (kiik means swing in Estonian) which has a full 360 degrees of rotation to it. To swing a kiiker the contestant must pump by squatting and standing up on the swing. The swing gains momentum taking the person in full circle by his skillful pumping.
Fact 19:
Estonia produces quality vodka and boasts Viru Valge and Saaremaa as its most popular brands.
Fact 20:
And, in case you are thinking of relocating, Estonia doesn’t accept dual citizenship.
Hope you enjoyed this. Head aega! (That’s “goodbye” in Estonian.)
Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc.
www.acei1.com
ACEI-Global 
Very beautiful and interesting facts. Have a glance at this blog Interesting Facts and say your opinion.
Thaks! It is very useful material for English teaching!
Its always nice to rememberise some facts of your motherland. Thank you.
they do accept dual citizenship
No, they don’t. You can’t be a citizen of x-country and Estonia at the same time 🙂
We may have over simplified the dual citizenship point, so here’s some background information which we hope will clarify Estonia’s policies on the matter. According to the U.S. Embassy in Tallin, Estonia: “Although Estonian law generally does not permit dual nationality, Estonian law also provides that a person who has the right to Estonian citizenship from birth cannot have his/her citizenship taken away. Accordingly, a number of individuals who have claims to Estonian citizenship from birth carry both Estonian and U.S. passports (such as Estonians who move to the United States and naturalize as American citizens).” http://estonia.usembassy.gov/dual_nationality.html
Another report on Estonia’s laws concerning citizenship is available in this link: http://eudo-citizenship.eu/docs/CountryReports/Estonia.pdf
Thank you everyone for your comments!
I have Australian and Estonian dual citizenship. So yes they do. Your only not allowed if born in Estonia and trying to gain another buy if you have blood relations in Estonia and are born in a country which aloes dual then you can have both
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Mashallah!
Beautiful Info…
I Luved It
Same!
Really Informative blog. I learn lot of things about Estonia from this blog. Thanks for sharing your valuable view.
I keep reading this ‘dual citizen’ debate and it’s only not allowed if you are from Estonia originally. You can gain Estonian citizenship as a second passport but not gain another if Estonian.
I do to matey
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I enjoyed the information. I just had an exchange student at my door selling educational books for children. Very pretty, I might add. I’m and old women so I can make that observation.
Fact 12 has an error – estonians did not invent Hotmail, it was created by an Indian guy in California.
Thank you! I have to do a research essay about Estonia and thought it would be boring.These facts are actually pretty interesting, I find it fascinating that something like this could interest me.
Hurrah! After all I got a website from where I know how to genuinely get
valuable information concerning my study and knowledge.