Estonia - How this tiny country's re-inventing democracy

[@Although...]

I am from Poland and have made some friends with Estonians. They told us that they were very well educated in general but also taught how to start a business, be succesful with it. They only half ironically said that when graduating from high school every Estonian already has three different companies, one of them for avoiding taxes. And that... that was mindblowing for us. And that's even though Poland is doing really well after soviet times, being the only country to go without GDP dropping down from the '90 till COVID times. We are transforming into the western standards fairly effectively. But what Estonia does is a completely new level!

[@ryangosling239]

because Poland changed parties in 90's peacefully, didn't it?

[@Although...]

@@ryangosling239 It did! It was preceeded by multiple violent riots and martial law in '81 but the very fall of communism in Poland was peaceful

[@Although...]

@@ryangosling239 and it was '89. We were the first in the wave of countries winning with communism

[@missk1697]

Doing really well, with everyone worthy leaving it for better nations.

[@sugandesenuds6663]

based pole. Greetings from your neighbor to the west.

[@justahamsterthatcodes]

I'm a simple Finn, I see Estonia I click like.

[@Megalomaniakaal]

Same vice-versa.

[@redhidinghood9337]

As someone whos from a post-socialist state (Bosnia) I am amazed by Estonia. It seems pretty much like a total miracles what the estonians were able to achieve. Just shows how much a country can improve with a competent and well-intentioned government. The praise should go to estonians of course, who elected such brilliant minds to lead their country.

[@elisterr9913]

As an Estonian I'm a little bit amazed by this comment. Of course, the leaders of our country did a solid work for the natives (after we re-gained our independence in the summer of 1991) but its more to the culture of the nation. While being 0% slavic in its core, Estonian (just like Finnish people) have a more reserved and practical view of the world. Less emotions could be added here. In that sense, we were always the ones who fed the CCCP's annual budget and who established businesses that generated value to the market, given that Estonia has no natural resources of its own. But I give you that removing russians from power (and from leetching on the country) you basically took of the handbrake of a car. I hope that we won't stay still and continue to strive to be better and more efficient .... as... being a local I'd say that we're way lagged behind as in the context of a electronically developed nation. We're stuck in 2010. :D Its better than most of others but now, I wouldn't rank us in the top10 of the world... having less corruption (5th best in the world, only behind scandinacians) is the only thing that helps us rank high in this regards, I suppose.

[@chairpersonofthecharlotteh5646]

​@@elisterr9913 Agreed with everything you said

[@elisterr9913]

@@MG-ji1ms What do you mean by that? I just googled that 1930's Yugoslavia had the lowest avg GDP of the entire Europe. But you must mean something else?

[@k.umquat8604]

@@elisterr9913 Yugoslavia wasn't socialist before WWII

[@Cubesside11]

@@elisterr9913 hey what? we dont have corruption here (almost atall) wut

[@endex190]

Coming from Lithuania, our brothers estonians always amaze us.

[@mr.commonsense]

Lithuania is great too tbh

[@nurrnena7798]

Watching what goes on in the West these days, I’m sure that big powerful countries can learn a lot from smaller succesful ones (like Estonia), because they don’t have room for errors. Estonia is like a blueberry - you might not notice it in the forest at first, but when you do, you know it tastes good.

[@valirupe]

Some of these changes only work because they are applied to small countries though, its much harder to revamp the whole system in a country like USA or China. The richest countries in the world also happen to be microstates because its so easy to make them very efficient with a low population

[@cameronmckague6124]

@@valirupe That's a total copout that nations feed to their citizens to give legitimacy to their entrenched inefficient institutions. I'd be surprised if you could name one actual variable that would make a larger country unable to adopt the reforms that Estonia has. Especially in countries like China and America which have very high rates of internet penetration, a digitisation of governance would be relatively easy to achieve compared to poorer nations. The only thing preventing them from doing so is a lack of will to innovate due to their respective entrenched bureaucracies locked in a mindset of tradition and perpetuation instead of adaptation and solutionism, as well as a complacent citizenry that truly believe large countries are too big to change. As the video states, it's the Estonian mindset that brought about these changes not the material circumstances of the country. If it were a material circumstance Lithuania and Latvia would look the same or vice versa.

[@tiitgeorg720]

what you mean tastes good. Stop giving Russia ideas. 😅

[@estonianchauvinistk.s.p3864]

Our Prime minister said the following words in a parlament conference ,,electrical molecules"

[@marzo21]

bears love blueberries i hope there's no bear around estonia

[@finnjones625]

You forgot those Islands next to Estonia when you're explaining the History of Estonia and its Democracy.

[@drdelewded]

Yeah, my fathers parents would have been pissed.. (Grandmother was from Saaremaa and Grandfather Hiiumaa)

[@mairereier9723]

Thought the same - tho later they are nicely blue and added. Just add it to the red part too...we all needed passports during Soviet time to go to the islands (in our own country) for summer holidays 🙄....

[@drdelewded]

@@mairereier9723 Last time I was in Hiiumaa my family there took us to our family (my grandfathers) land and told us it was ours. My father just gave it to our cousins. I kinda wanted it hahaha..

[@drdelewded]

@@mairereier9723 My great, great.... great grandfather was the bastard son of a Baltic German Baron.. the Baron had given the land to his cook if the cook would take the maid he had knocked up as his wife.. so it was infidelity bribery land.. which is kinda cool and goes with the English meaning of my last name Luud.. (Lewd)

[@mr.commonsense]

What islands, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa? Or you mean the smaller ones too, like Ruhnu?

[@meowtherainbowx4163]

Estonia is basically a radical centrist. It found a middle way that wasn’t just a compromise between a good thing and a bad thing.

[@spectacles-dm]

lmao that's a great way of putting it...

[@estelasantos1917]

So America way of thinking politics

[@Ezhil-dq8op]

Nah, centrist are always rightists, you can never compromise between left and right

[@Jack-ul8nn]

lol no

[@waveboard111]

JREG starts visibly shaking as he reads this comment

[@hoogyoutube]

Wonderful video

[@ouss]

You should make a video about Ludwig Erhard and how he cause the Wirtschaftswunder

[@frenzalrhomb6919]

@@ouss The "Economic Wonder" that came out of post WW2 West Germany? I always thought that was Adenauer. Sorry, I forget his first name.

[@spectacles-dm]

Thank you so much. Means a lot :)

[@Killinemkid]

He made some videos for you, right?

[@SideKickStudios]

Thank you for a well put together video. As an Estonian myself, i have to say, one thing that you said really stuck with me. You see, we Estonians are very 'straight to the point', 'no BS' pragmatic people. We've truly put our blood, sweat and tears into our little plot of land to try and make it the best we can, with what we have to work with, so when you say, Estonia is *important*, i think that's truly the biggest compliment anyone can ever say about us. Ultimately, that's what our tiny country and its people really ever wanted, is to be important and respected for its own merits and achievements. And thanks to the US for inventing the IT, we have been able to find our NOKIA, to have the one main thing we can export - which is our brain power, our innovative 'can do' attitude and our resolute stubbornness to do whatever, to make things work.

[@thorstenfinke2751]

In Germany there is a common discourse about the lack of flexibilty and mind blowing slowness of the bloated public institutions, who still run largely on paper and without proper process management. Most of this discussions end with a phrase like:" Look how Estonia is doing it. Why cant we do the same?

[@SideKickStudios]

@@thorstenfinke2751 Really? That's very Interesting. Estonia inherited the same paperback management from the Soviet Union and what became immediately and painfully obvious was that because we lacked in robust economy to pay for progress, we had to come up with a better and more precise way to keep track of every sum and process to be able to predict and build the economy to the standards that the west had, so we could meet the requirements in order to join the EU family of open and successful democracies. I would assume since Germany has a far more robust economic layer or "fat" and man power to fall back on, even with errors after the comma, you can still merrily keep going, which means there's no similar pressure to modernize quite like Estonia did. Obviously that's no reason to not do it, since it is beneficial and also improves life for every average citizen, there's the lack of political will or priority to invest in that. But from what I've heard, things are improving. Within EU, i know Estonia is pushing for better digitization of governments, so the system would be more compatible across all borders.

[@jedimindtrix2142]

Generally speaking countries that have smaller populations can get things done much faster and efficiently. Here in the US change comes at the pace of a snail, if at all. It's crazy to think that your entire country has less people than the region of Ohio, the state that I live in. I always wondered what it felt like to be part of a smaller and close knit society like Estonia or Iceland. I think it'd be very nice and a privilege to be a part of a smaller country and society. I have always found places like Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Bosnia, etc...to be interesting due to their smaller populations but huge impact in terms of history and what they offer to the modern world.

[@sidekill]

As an Estonian I would find it hard to live in an another country, just because it is really easy to pau taxes in Estonia ( you don’t have to calculate it yourself) and the healthcare system is really cheap ( if you even have to pay for it).

[@pawel8365]

In Sweden it's a similar story, it really makes it difficult to move to a country (e.g.: Germany) where you actually need to hire accountants and private services to do something as simple and important as taxes.

[@thatguy7683]

Its not really the same because Sweden has Muslims.@@pawel8365

[@discoboy8169]

What? )) Taxes - same shit as anywhere else, healthcare system is not cheap, it is paid from your income, so like everywhere else. In the Uk it is free for you, but overloaded due to amount of people. In Estonia medical stuff is also cut and pretty simular overloaded. Trust me, I am an accountant living in at least two countries. Estonia has other pros and cons, compare to other countries. Self-defense, clean and tidy cities, man does not loose his assets before marriage, if married, IDs, free transport for Tallinners, nature - that;s all pluses. What is bad? Banks are charging for their services(not in normal countries), Prices are higher compare to Europe on food, clothes, cars, furniture, and even private property prices now higher than in Spain or Britain, how come? No one knows. I expect collapse of economy, as soon as EU would stop giving free money. Why? Cause economy is based on "services".

[@thatguy7683]

@@discoboy8169 As a native i will tell you that you are living the wrong way in Estonia. You dont buy the expensive half baked processed goods, you buy the fresh potatoes and meats and onions and what not when its for sale (Its always on sale on either COOP Rimi or Maxima. And for clothes you never go to H&M or something, you go to Humala or Sõbralt Sõbrale and get a nice expensive big brand suit for 1 euro. And as a local nationalist i say that yes the banks should be regulated, and yes we rely on the EU way too much. Also i bet i know whose to blame for the housing prices. Other races located in the middle east and not enough competition with prices, also the mobsters arent building homes to money launder and so scumbags build houses (Difference of homes and houses)

[@toomaskarmo9435]

A data point might be useful here, as we discuss the cheapness (as asserted by @sidekill, in this forum thread) or the non-cheapness (as asserted by @discoboy8169, in this forum thread) of Estonian healthcare. Under the current rules, I pay the full cost of health insurance here in my ancestral Estonia, while drawing some pension benefits in my native Canada. (I moved from Canada to Estonia in 2018.) The current bill is 2857.92 EUR per annum, equivalently 714.48 EUR per (3-month) calendar quarter. My guess is that this is comparatively cheap in international terms, without being super-cheap.

[@Mr.Septon]

A perfect or flawless nation? Certainly not, but as a Canadian, there is a lot that Estonia does that I would love to see us either duplicate, or discover similar paths. I definitely love Canada, but things like this would bring much-needed improvements.

[@drdelewded]

As an Estonian born and living in Canada, im moving to the USA as soon as possible.. Haha

[@Mr.Septon]

@@drdelewded interesting... Honestly I'd love to know more about why though.

[@drdelewded]

@@Mr.Septon Over the past 45 years ive learned to hate snow.. and I love guns...

[@Mr.Septon]

@@drdelewded well you know what, rock on. I can appreciate that lol. I spent five years living in the South West down in Albuquerque. It was amazing not being cold and dealing with snow half of the year at a time.

[@beatricevercesi]

As an Italian living in Estonia, this was incredibly insightful

[@brianmichaelclark3434]

As an Englishman living in Estonia i do not recognise any of this complementary rubbish .......

[@mr.commonsense]

How's our pasta?

[@beatricevercesi]

@@mr.commonsense lol you mean makaroni-piimasupp 😂

[@mr.commonsense]

@@beatricevercesi "makaroni piimasupp" well we use makaron mostly for the cheaper pasta, but otherwise the same. Second thing is, that who Tf makes "milk soup!?

[@hybbfr727]

@@brianmichaelclark3434 why not

[@jezusbloodie]

I love the video; the pacing, thewriting and the graphics The cartographer in me, however, had a hard time accepting the fact that you didn't colour in Estonia's islands

[@TomationuJaDark1x]

Could not agree more

[@frenzalrhomb6919]

At least they were there ... Mostly!!

[@spectacles-dm]

Yes, we caught that late in our rounds of edits - Philip here, I do the animations - it was obviously my bad, but we were on a tight publishing schedule, I had to travel this morning, and we didn't feel it was going to be worth the trouble to fix. So glad you enjoyed the video, and thanks for adding this nuance for those unfamiliar!

[@SpoonLoverify]

@@spectacles-dm i woulnt care too much about the mishap, but damn, i live on one of those islands :

[@pelletrouge3032]

@@SpoonLoverify Isn’t one of em called Tartu?

[@Prunella304]

Maybe worth mentioning that Estonia has increased its GDP 9 times since regaining independence. Average salary in the beginning of 90s was about 20 euros, now it's 1700 euros. Still half that of Finland's but we have come a long way.

[@mr.commonsense]

Finland has higher taxes for example, but this video is not about economy in my opinion

[@zarathustra498]

What we see in Europe is the moving away from the East-West divide to North-South. Several former Soviet block countries overtook Italy (so far the wealthiest Medditeranean country) or set to overtake in couple of years. It will be interesting to see how this develops

[@spectacles-dm]

interesting thought!

[@APKAK-1465]

very interesting way to look at things!

[@steflift5165]

Hot / nice but poor vs rich(er) but cold / sad :)

[@gwho]

Make Europe Rome/Germanic tribes again!

[@gwho]

Europe's warm places are friendlier and cold places more aloof @@steflift5165

[@realhawaii5o]

I see Eesti, I click.

[@inspektor12]

sama.

[@stonecold007]

mina ka

[@ppaiste]

As an Estonian myself I'm proud of my country and happy that you made this video

[@APKAK-1465]

@Von Gröger mida sa seletad lege

[@ppaiste]

@@APKAK-1465 sama nagu mdv ta ajab

[@yes_yes09]

@@APKAK-1465 lege 😂

[@rasulsaar5304]

Eesti Parim

[@mr.commonsense]

Couldn't agree more comrade

[@OnibiTeru]

As an estonian, I can say that the reason why so much has been done in a modern stand point, is because we're really good at whining and complaining haha - if something isn't working right, we complain very openly at why it's not working as intended, and people get stuff done, because nobody wants to listen to people whine 24/7 :D as we would if the problem doesn't get solved. I think more than anything, it's the hard-headedness that gets things moving and done. It's not all sunshine and rainbows ofc - but the functionality of the country works better than some places. The size of the country and it's people also determines what can be done, as if there's too much to handle, there will be more problems to face.

[@SideKickStudios]

I can agree to that. The best part of democracy, is that we can freely and openly complain and criticize our government and politicians and to appease their voters, despite a lot of political poop-flinging, they do actually get things done. Under an autocratic regime like the USSR/RF, this would have never been possible. That's why life in Estonia, even tho expensive and not always easy and fair for everyone, is in general, quite great.

[@SianaGearz]

IDK it seems like just about every nation in Europe prides itself on whining and complaining and then nothing happens.

[@KutsugeMindUrmoks]

As someone from Estonia - this video was pretty good.

[@mr.commonsense]

Agree

[@TheTerkzzz]

This is an example of the highest of compliments you could receive from an Estonian.

[@Maddog-xc2zv]

Love to Estonia from Portugal. Great video, public service

[@UrLocal_Troll]

I'm from Estonia and I'm proud what Estonia has become over the years

[@IMPERIALYT]

Lovely stuff yet again - what an interesting topic to deep dive into.

[@spectacles-dm]

Thank you so much!! So glad you enjoyed it

[@iljaterehoff6966]

Es esmu ļoti lepns par mūsu kaimiņiem. Igaunieši ir forši čomi! I am very proud of my neighbours. As Latvian sometimes I am jealous towards them.

[@mr.commonsense]

im jealous that you have a funny word for''sharp knife''

[@TomationuJaDark1x]

As an Estonian, I couldn't thank you more for making a video about us! The video was soooo good aswell! Had a great time watching it, y'all deserve more views.

[@tarmopoiklik6314]

Next time include the 2 large Islands on the map also. Saaremaa and Hiiumaa are part of Estonia.

[@TheArctofireHD]

I think there are few parallels in history of a state making such a rapid, fundamental change in direction in such a short period of time. Estonia gives hope that inclusive institutions can be built in countries with long histories of extractivist institutions, so long as there is the will and good leadership.

[@billyballo4756]

As an Estonian living in Italy, this was very interesting. thank you

[@AlexLuik]

A lot of envious Russian trolls over here.

[@luker5400]

I think Estonia, along with Slovenia and Czech Republic now have higher standards of living then countires that were never colonized by communism and Russia/Yugoslavia such as Greece, Spain and Portugal. Perhaps these Southern Euro nations need to get their act together. Also maybe African nations should visit Estonia, Slovenia and Czech to learn on how to make a country great for its citizens.

[@atermnus1286]

It's almost as if USSR provided better roots and foundations for societies to prosper than USA imperialism and capitalism. Wow!

[@spencermccormick2959]

I saw Estonia up close in 2005. I was there for 3 months. It was alive with the optimism of the future.

[@christofer9343]

as an Estonian this video does a really good job of explaining our history and our modern functions in an easy to process and not dragged out method. i do think you used the words ''Estonian attitude'' a bit much though.

[@seandawson5899]

YESSSS ME AND MY HOMIES LOVE ESTONIA! I'm a Missouri dawg too. Shout out Springfield.

[@spectacles-dm]

helllllll yeah brother

[@xzerodeathx]

As a Missourian that is living and working in Estonia life is pretty chill.

[@seandawson5899]

@@xzerodeathx no way, thats too cool.

[@mr.creeper6836]

2:14 There is an map error, the two islands on the western coast of Estonia are just that, part of estonia and were also taken over by the russians. They were also turned into very hevily guarded military positions due to the fact that escaping to Sweden was much easier from there than from the mainland.

[@kaur9384]

As an Estonian i twitched on the part of " Wanna pay your´e tickets ? " already forgot about that 20€ speedig ticket

[@camdickie]

Awesome video, content like this makes me consider living in Estonia as a Canadian. Thank you so much :)

[@jansatamme6521]

nah dont, Canada is probably still a better place to be, i mean i'd like immigrants but thats just a dumb decision for a canadian, finland is literally like 2 hours by ship away or denmark is like a few days by boat

[@mr.commonsense]

The climate is like Canadian too

[@red_skies80]

That would make two of us

[@AlexanderMikhailov629]

Been looking for a place to migrate too considering the consequences of leaving religion in here, and I like it when most of the stuffs can be done digitally, I'm noting Estonia as one of that destination for now.

[@TheCantoneseInvestor]

Great video, but there is one thing that you seem to have neglected to say when it comes to the Estonian taxation system - it is one the few countries on earth that has a land value tax (taxation of land value, but not any improvements on land unlike the usual property taxes/council taxes of the world), and it just so happens that property ownership rate there is also apparently fairly high. 🧐

[@ellakai3340]

This depends on the land. If you use land for any kind for economic activity, you pay tax. I've owned 2 houses with accompanying land and never paid the land tax - because I just live here. However, one of the houses was within a community that had shared land (like the street between, a village campsite, swimming area etc) and that "shared" land was taxed and was like 64 euros a year. And all such taxes go to the local (county) covernment to further improve the lives of those who live there.

[@kristjanvendelin3566]

It's also easier to invest than in other countries. You can start a bank account which you define as "investment account" and you pay 0% tax on your investing profits until you actually move more money from that account than you put in. No tax loss harvesting needed. Nothing difficult just a sane policy. Works best when you buy your stocks via bank though not on some external platform. Same goes for companies. 0% tax until you want to take some money out and take dividends. Then you'll pay your 20%.

[@tiitgeorg720]

it triggers me so hard that you didn't color Saaremaa and Hiiumaa red when highlighting Estonia.

[@tiitgeorg720]

@@johnorkav316 The biggest. The cows in that area are such big assholes that they will just walk on your land without permission :D (sarkasm)

[@JohnnytheBlue]

This is fantastic. Great work as always!

[@CrackyCreates]

I just got baited into watching a 12 minute video about my own country.

[@mr.commonsense]

same

[@korakys]

As someone from another smallish country (New Zealand): this is something that's tough for us to avoid, lol.

[@reikomi]

In italy every pibblic service website is more like Log in, wait 5 hours, get an error and the website telling you to go to the office

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Good video as always!

[@tiitsaul9036]

Mostly correct, but skewed to positive side a bit. I grew up in 90s Estonia and I didn't appreciate the challenges we had to overcome. Not perfect, but done well.

[@eestipoiss3859]

Really surprised with the high quality of the video and the lack of views it has. Keep it up man and you'll see the growth of the channel!! (As you can kinda see with this video already)

[@Bostwiki]

Shout to KCMO creators!

[@snanzee]

as an estonian thanks for talking about us :)

[@naomi5418]

So glad to have discovered your Chanel !!It’s outstanding and pls keep up the good work ❤!

[@thelaggypotato9813]

how do you only have 4.5k subscribers earned a new sub u should honestly have 2 million subs at least

[@JUICE_PROPAGANDA_CEO]

The nostalgic past isn't just Estonian thing. Czechoslovakia didn't have government in exile but we we're the only democratic country in Central Europe in the interwar period which is basically called the first republic. If you look at it, post 1918 Europe was a lot of post-imperial states and a lot of those had basically the exact same history since 1914 till now. Not counting Baltic partisanship against USSR which killed most of male Baltic population. It is truly incredible that Estonia has achievied this level of development after just 30 years though. I hope we can learn from Estonia in digitalisation.

[@velozio]

Great video, and really interesting topic

[@savvagrachev2754]

Gotta say Estonia is doing so well after occupation by the USSR

[@kalle911]

We do have certain challenges here. Such as non-competitive pay of rescue workers (plenty of whom hold two jobs) and teachers (doesn't attract young people to take up the profession either), also lack of support for single parents and handicapped persons, etc. One case I read about recently was a 90-year old taking care of her down syndrome daughter (58 y/o) and doesn't receive compensation from the state because she has an age-related handicap herself. Although one would be compensated very generously by the state for getting to having three children, in addition to probably the largest benefits in any country ever for having children. Then we also haven't invested into renewables since 2013, although they're surely working to fix that now. Although I do file my taxes in literally 5 minutes and I can also digitally sign my statements to the police (I did that in June) and well, anything really. Could be worse, could be better, same as anywhere.

[@GigAHerZ64]

The unfortunate exist in every country. Anecdotal evidence play only on emotions. Look at statistics and compare it between countries. Only this way you can paint a true picture for yourself and others.

[@kalle911]

@@GigAHerZ64 awful lot of anecdotal evidence then

[@supking403]

Estonia sounds cozy and comfy

[@mr.commonsense]

trust me, it mostly is

[@3Dwardo]

really wonderful visuals and storytelling! a rising star i say

[@spectacles-dm]

Thanks! Hope you're right 🤞

[@peterkelly4873]

So glad to see another video, a great pre-christmas present

[@spectacles-dm]

Cheers, Peter!

[@eruno_]

2:32 Estonian islands should be all colored red as they were also occupied.

[@commie_remover]

And like the other Baltics states and the Czech Republic, Estonia has great gun laws.

[@AreHan1991]

Good to hear Estonia succeed. Though its digitized public sector is not unique. We have similar systems in Norway, and I guess to varying degrees in the rest of Scandinavia and The Netherlands (and Germany?)

[@aflack482]

i whole heartily think that a digital democracy could create the greatest form of democracy going into the future

[@theartistformidablyknownas3807]

Saaremaa and Hiiumaa are part of Estonia

[@spectacles-dm]

yes our mistake - see hearted comment for response. Thanks for watching!

[@theartistformidablyknownas3807]

@Spectacles - Democracy Matters yea didn't mean any malice you just seem more on the political/ social channel side than the geographic side

[@FloboBoyce]

Love the channel and content. Small gripe though, that transparent "distressed" layer you use for charts and graphs always makes me feel as if I have a hair on the screen.. LMAO

[@palerdjan]

Very accurate video! You could've talked a little more about our negatives though :)

[@flanoraxx]

Very Estonian comment!

[@drdelewded]

Not enough Saunas..

[@sherbetgod3066]

Estonian here, haven't watched the vid yet buy already excited) If u want tho, ask any questions about my country)

[@JackNapier420]

Irishman here 🇮🇪👋 this is completely irrelevant to the video, but whatever- ill never forget meeting and dancing with/kissing this absolutely beautiful Estonian girl i met in a bar one night and i regret mever getting her mobile number.. To this day the only Estonian person ive ever met so my impression of Estonia has always been top! This video seems to cement my regret now 😅😂

[@mardus_ee]

You can come over, be a gentleman, and get more kisses :-) Disclaimer: I don't know how dating women works in Estonia, but you can ask at /r/Eesti

[@Jaggerbush]

Been there. Not many Americans have - it's wild wifi is a human right - it's in their constitution.

[@mr.thingguy2190]

A fellow Missourian, good to see them

[@stephenkelly207]

Great video

[@spectacles-dm]

thank you kind stranger

[@PKVeteran]

Integrity is usually a good pillar to build any system.

[@hapukurk6664]

Generally good video. Many are often ignorant or misrepresent our country. This video specifically might be too optimistic, but a part of being Estonian, which I am, is being pessimistic.

[@bencered]

Amazing as always!

[@spectacles-dm]

Thank you!

[@wendynz9961]

OMG, I really really wanna go to E-Estonia,must visit. Our NZ generation should go to Estonia to study like exchange students, tiny Estonia really Wows the world....

[@tamaspeterradvanyi1445]

I didn't expect to see Orbán in this video the least

[@annakougija]

Great video. Income taxes ja voting online takes more like 3 min than 10 min😁 and you can log in to most of those sites with your phone, without needing an actual ID-card ( just the pin codes). Greetings from Estonia.

[@augustkasemaa3290]

Thanks for making such a wonderful video. As an Estonian, there's a few little details that I'd nag about but overall you have captured the gist of our people and country wonderfully. All the best!

[@KrK-EST]

Wrong borders in maps of Estonia

[@AulisA.O.T]

1:27 😐 uh, Don't forget about two Island too. (Saaremaa and Hiiumaa)

[@AlanKor]

Really cool video

[@spectacles-dm]

Thanks!

[@benjamin3044]

Great video! But you did miss the 2007 Russian cyber operations against Estonia which, while technically not a breach and also not actively confirmed Russian, did have a number of it's calling cards. Further It basically grounded all of Estonias online services. Silverlining is that it serves as a playbook and case study for NATO nations responses to such attacks.

[@netiturtle]

It served as valuable a lesson. Such nationwide attack had never happened before, but after the precedent had been created, defenses and redundancies were built for it. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we had another cyberattack at much larger scale, which went unnoticed by the public. If not for the news article, we wouldn't even know about it. btw, NATO Cyber Defence Centre is now located in Estonia

[@BlaBlaBlaInDaHouse]

Great video, really well made!

[@spectacles-dm]

thank you!

[@mists_of_time]

Another amazing video, I love it.

[@roskis6493]

Estonia is one cool cat of a country. I'm so impressed with the progress this country has done.. High fives and hugs to all my brothers and sisters in Estonia, from Sweden.

[@mardus_ee]

> hugs to all my brothers and sisters in Estonia, from Sweden Ahh, soo, Estonia can into Nordic now? :D

[@jaanushiiemae2164]

I love how you left Saaremaa and Hiiumaa islands free from Soviet occupation. If only that were true. The best short overview of Estonian development after the Soviet collapse I have seen on KZbin

[@nighouds9062]

pretty good video over all, just had some issue with how you describe Estonia as a liberal democracy in the pre WW2 era, without even mentioning Konstantin Päts, an authoritarian, in passing

[@sulevturnpuu5491]

Come to think of it, You did not actually tell what the digital residency is about.

[@Gaming4Justice]

All education in Estonian is free, I don't get the point of "mostly". Also the 75% percent of healtcare free seems also off to me. It's all free except some additional things. So in a case of hospital care, family doctor, speciality doctors, it is free. I recently had to visit a speciality doctor to get sole support and that cost me, but other visits to adjust them did not.

[@mardus_ee]

There's a 5€ visitation free to see a specialist doctor. Subsequent visits on that particular issue are then free for a set amount of time. Private providers have much higher fees.

[@stonecold007]

Uh oh spaghetti-o, you forgot to color in the two islands of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. Otherwise it's an amazing overview. I like the music and editing.

[@KrK-EST]

Well done video! && 🇪🇪Always♥️🇫🇮

[@randomchannel-px6ho]

As a member of NATO, Estonia experts helps the USA secure their elections from Russian interference in 2020 after the events of 2016

[@RomanLavandos]

Every time somebody says Ukraine or Belarus is poor because of russia and its communist past, I always say that this country is poor due to its inability to innovate, democratize, combat corruption, and unwillingness to join NATO and EU for military and economic security (remember, Estonia, Belarus, and Ukraine started from the same situation just 30 years ago).

[@hullmees666]

and many if not all warsaw pact countries started from a better situation.

[@Hjernespreng]

Having been part of the USSR did not mean actually starting from the same situation. Each coubtry had their own individual baggage, culture and conflicts, manybeven predating the USSR itself, and many were treated different DURING the USSR, too. Ukraine and Belarus, for example, were large-scale victims of straight up genocide. Ukraine and Belarus bore a disproportionate sum of the USSR's WW2 casualties, and Ukraine had suffered the Holodomor before that. This had severe demographic and thus economic impacts that STILL resonate today.

[@kristjanvendelin3566]

@@Hjernespreng Estonia lost 10% of its population too during WW2. Thing with Belarus and UA is that they are Slavic countries and thought at the time that staying closer to Russia will benefit them. Natives in Baltic states including Estonia are not Slavic and everything Russia has disgusted them since forever. So that's the difference between paths taken. We also gave up lots of manufacturing (of inferior soviet style products) and went hard on education and IT instead.

[@雷-t3j]

Eh, partly, but also not really. Belarus has been stuck in a Russia backed dictatorship since independence, and Ukraine has had proxy wars and invasion from Russia, neither of which the citizens could change, at least for now.

[@elpi2804]

Well, not exact same. Belarus, Ukraine and Russia are more similar to each other than to the baltics in their starting position. Remember, it was those three who offically dismantled the Union, their oligarchic leadership, not the baltics. The baltics, afaik, didn't get the same developmental handicap than the three did, which was a corrupt, neoliberal, oligarchical and undemocratic government. Well, undemocratic is maybe a bit of a strong word, they were democratic for a bit, if we use the world in a modern liberal sense. Russia lost its democracy in 93, and Ukraine and Belorus in the 2010s and 2000s respectively. But if you were to ask me, no nation on this earth is a democracy in the sense of the word, "people's power". Though a few in the past have been admirable attempts, despite outside pressure.

[@tankart3645]

Why do most of the videos online paint the two Islands of Estonia Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, like not an part of Estonia when talking about Estonia, for exemple 1:26 ?

[@Europa_GG]

The red marks the USSR and both of the islands were occupied by Germany at the time.

[@tankart3645]

@@Europa_GG they weren’t?

[@Europa_GG]

@@tankart3645 they were

[@tankart3645]

@@Europa_GGThe German forces occupied Saaremaa for example from 1917 October to 1980 November, so from 1:26 to ich 1:28 (As you can see the year date change when he zooms in). Meaning that if I had written 1:28 I would have been completely correct for the entire video, except for 2 seconds.

[@Europa_GG]

@@tankart3645 k

[@rupsikas1950]

wow, that was a really great video. also, props for no mistakes in historical facts as well.

[@CristinaMarshal]

How do we say simply---but this has been purely enlightening!

[@gwho]

Estonia's most amazing model to the world is not their digital bureaucracy but Kerli.

[@AlexanderMikhailov629]

Halfway through the end, I thought there's gonna be a VPN ad, thank god there isn't.

[@madcrusader123]

As an Estonian, in the past 3 years or so, we have certainly got more and more autocratic...

[@rasulsaar5304]

Tbh Estonia has the 9th most Island which is more than thailand total : 2,222

[@mr.commonsense]

Using the new KZbin is kinda weird. Anyway I just found this video and as an Estonian, I agree

[@TheMorisBlack]

Baltics were always richer than the rest of the Union and the Empire. Estonians like to say that they have different mentality, russians like to say that Baltic states were sponsored but in reality it is just too complicated for common people. It is much easier to focus on your own nationality, than to learn facts. Everyone just likes to think that they are cool and others are not, trying to explain that as they can.

[@terjeluik6675]

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[@MrJuwarra]

Estonians do have vastly different mentality from Slavs though. That is not something just said.

[@TheMorisBlack]

Can you please give me an example. I personally think that rural and urban populations of both Russia and Estonia have more differences that urban populations compared. It works for most of the other countries too. Pakistan vs Bangladesh, Ukraine vs Russia, China vs Taiwan. They all talk about different mentality but you can never tell the difference if you are lucky to have a conversation with people from both sides.

[@MrJuwarra]

@@TheMorisBlack what do you mean an example.. come to Estonia and see yourself.. Estonians and Russians living their parallel lives in the exact same society.. absolutely different cultures, absolutely different mindsets, absolutely different characters. Only the Russians who actually have integrated into Estonian society, those with Estonians as friends, Estonian spouses, speaking Estonian, have become more similar to Estonian mentality.. and even then, it is still only one step closer. Still have lots of cultural conflicts rising just from that very reason that Russian mentality simply is different and alien to us

[@lihavaras]

Great video, but I think some of the negatives of Estonia weren't properly realised, namely the economy. While a flat tax is good and all, our inflation rates manage to top the charts in Europe. It's honestly shocking to see the price change with every month. The balanced nature of the country is shifting, as we also have a ton of corruption problems, with parties funneling public money to their sectors.

[@hullmees666]

unless the inflation stays so high after the energy crisis is over its a moot point. higher than avg inflation is also expected with high growth economies if we look at the numbers from before.

[@kasparpaukson3543]

The inflation rates were spiked because the government decided to take a big hit right away, rather than cripple it’s economy for the entire future. While the war between Russia and Ukraine goes on it’s going to delay all of this, the economy should still bounce back and so on. Prices in stores likely won’t rise or lower but they should stagnate while wages keep increasing. As for the corruption… it was mentioned in the sense of populism. Meaning that parties make empty or easy to achieve promises and swing votes like that, incredibly easy to do when taking advantage of what the minorities need. The politica here is trying to drive a divide between the minorities and the majority, which is a slippery slope. I hope that it’s navigated well, but can’t be too sure. All of this said, apart from money being a bit tighter for now, the avg effects on households have been fairly modest compared to what the people at war are going through.

[@aleksandersuur9475]

From economics point of view high inflation is usually bad because the currency loses value at the same rate. But Estonia has euro and value of that is tied to Eurozone average inflation. So in the long run, higher than average inflation is pure win, money just pouring into the country. In the short run of course it's inconvenient to many, because some get pay raises later than others, the economic growth doesn't reach everyone at the same time. But that's always the case with economic growth, doesn't make it a bad thing.

[@lihavaras]

@@aleksandersuur9475 The value of the euro might be tied to the eurozone in a way, but prices in stores aren't. The high inflation would be a win if everyone went shopping in Poland, for example, but that isn't the case. If you happen to work a Finnish job then your salary is tied to Finnish inflation, therefore you lose money every year with your pay raises not keeping up with inflation.

[@mardus_ee]

@@lihavaras Prices rise just the same in other countries, too, and people in those lands complain just as much. Alas, the current coalition raised the VAT tax, purportedly to balance the budget. Meanwhile, if you have a stable income, try to consume less, avoid wasting food, avoid quick loans, vices (alcohol, smoking, _et alia),_ and do proper budgeting for the things that you really need vs. impulse purchases.

[@DougGrinbergs]

2:51 Baltic States "Singing Revolution" 5:40 X-Road, digital ID, 6:31 e-Estonia