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COUNTRY FOCUS Despite its size, Estonia is packing a mighty technological punch. Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / November 2021 / PAGE 24
COUNTRY FOCUS AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein “one of the most innovative nations in Europe…and consistently strives to provide a positive and stimulating environment for rights holders.” ESTONIA, the third in the triumvirate of the Baltic States, not unsurprisingly shares a common history with its neighbours. Once ruled by the Danes, Swedes, Germans, and Russians, it is similar in nature to Latvia and Lithuania. Settlers first arrived in the area around 8500BC. The Germans followed in the 13th century and the area was subsequently fought over by several states as it was an east-west gateway. Then came a period of national enlightenment in the 18th and 19th centuries that led to Estonia becoming independent in 1918. But, as with the other Baltic States, it was forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1940, the Third Reich in 1941, and the Soviet Union – again – in 1944. Freed in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the last Russian troops left in 1994. Estonia has since sought closer economic and political ties with the west and joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004, joined the OECD in late 2010, and adopted the euro in January 2011. PEOPLE AND THE ECONOMY Geographically, Estonia shares borders – albeit some over water – with Sweden, Latvia, Russia, and Finland. But it’s not a coherent or singular land mass; it features mainland and some 2,222 smaller islands scattered about the Baltic Sea. It’s the smallest of the three Baltic states with just 45,339 km2 (compared to the similarly sized Latvia and Lithuania with around 65,000 km2 each). Unlike its Baltic neighbours, its population is rising – from a low base, however. In 2021, the EU estimated that Estonia had 1.32m residents versus 1.89m in Latvia and 2.79m in Lithuania. But with such a large landmass, it’s easy to comprehend that Estonia is sparsely populated with just 29 people per km2. Worldpopulationreview.com calculates that Estonia holds just 0.02 percent of the global population and that it “is the one hundred and fifty-sixth biggest country in terms of population size.” Tallinn is the largest, and capital, city with 431,000 inhabitants. The next largest is Tartu with just 94,000, which is followed by Narva with 56,000 people. There are 10 more towns with residents that can be counted in five figures. Beyond that, are 33 towns and villages with populations ranging from 10,000 down to just 846. The population is, according to Macrotrends.net, which quotes 2020 World Bank data, 69.2 percent urbanised – a number which stood at 57.5 percent in 1960 and which rose to a 1989 peak of 71.42 percent. As for its economy, the 2021 OECD Economic Outlook believes that the Estonian economy fared relatively well considering the COVID pandemic and saw just a 2.7 percent contraction in GDP. It’s expected that GDP will have grown by 2.9 percent in 2021 and will grow 5 percent in 2022 – mainly as a result of domestic consumption and investment. Estonia’s Government debt is forecast to rise from nine percent to 23 percent by the end of 2021. The CIA World Factbook puts imports – based on 2017 figures, which is in places that the Estonian government still quotes – at $14.4bn which mainly come from Finland (14 percent), Germany (10.7 percent), Lithuania (8.9 percent), Sweden (8.5 percent), Latvia (8.2 percent), Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / November 2021 / PAGE 25 continues on page 26 >
Page 1 and 2: CREDIT MANAGEMENT THE CICM MAGAZINE
Page 3 and 4: 18 SHOOTING STARS Lisa Schorah xx C
Page 5 and 6: CMNEWS A round-up of news stories f
Page 7 and 8: NEWS SPECIAL “It is a sensible mo
Page 9 and 10: NEWS ROUNDUP Equifax reveals ways c
Page 11 and 12: INSOLVENCY AUTHOR - Caroline Sumner
Page 13 and 14: INTERVIEW AUTHOR - Sean Feast FCICM
Page 17 and 18: Entries open until Friday 26 Novemb
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Page 23: LBAs! FREE SEND AN UNLIMITED NUMBER
Page 27 and 28: COUNTRY FOCUS AUTHOR - Adam Bernste
Page 29 and 30: a 5/10 model a 5/10 works model bes
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CM magazine Nov2021

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