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The Republic of Estonia, or Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Vabariik or Eesti) is a country in Northern Europe. It is separated from Finland in the north by the narrow Gulf of Finland and from Sweden in the west by the middle part of the Baltic Sea. Estonia has land borders with its fellow Baltic country Latvia to the south and Russia to the east.
Living in Estonia
As a member of the European Union, Estonia is part of the world's largest economic zone. In 1999, Estonia experienced its worst year economically since it regained independence in 1991, largely because of the impact of the August 1998 Russian financial crisis. Estonia joined the WTO in November 1999 — the second Baltic state to join — and continued its EU accession talks. Privatization of energy, telecommunications, railways, and other state-owned companies is a continuing process. With assistance from the European Union, the World Bank and the Nordic Bank, Estonia completed most of its preparations for EU membership by the end of 2002 and now has one of the strongest economies of the new members states of the European Union, which Estonia joined on 1 May 2004. The Estonian economy is growing fast, partly due to a number of Scandinavian companies relocating their routine operations and Russian oil transit using Estonian ports. Estonia has a strong information technology (IT) sector. GDP PPP per capita is at $16,461, the highest among the Baltic states.
The north-west coast of Estonia near Nõva, Lääne countyIn 1994, Estonia became among the first in the world to adopt a flat tax, with a uniform rate of 26% regardless of the income a person makes. In January 2005 the personal income tax rate was reduced to 24%.
Since January 1, 2000, companies have not had to pay income tax on re-invested income. However, tax is due on profit distributions (incl. hidden distributions) at a rate of 24%.
Estonia numbers 15 main administrative subdivisions. Due to the geographical and demographic size of these subdivisions, they are to be considered counties rather than states (Estonian: pl. maakonnad; sg. - maakond). Here is a list of them:
- Counties of EstoniaHarju County (Estonian: Harjumaa)
- Hiiu County (Estonian: Hiiumaa)
- Ida-Viru County (Estonian: Ida-Virumaa)
- Järva County (Estonian: Järvamaa)
- Jõgeva County (Estonian: Jõgevamaa)
- Lääne County (Estonian: Läänemaa)
- Lääne-Viru County (Estonian: Lääne-Virumaa)
- Pärnu County (Estonian: Pärnumaa)
- Põlva County (Estonian: Põlvamaa)
- Rapla County (Estonian: Raplamaa)
- Saare County (Estonian: Saaremaa)
- Tartu County (Estonian: Tartumaa)
- Valga County (Estonian: Valgamaa)
- Viljandi County (Estonian: Viljandimaa)
- Võru County (Estonian: Võrumaa)
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