Statistics taken from the United Nations Statistics Division - Estonia
Estonia is well on its way to achieving many of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. According to the World Health Organization, the new members of the European Union, including Estonia, “have either already achieved all the MDGs or are likely to achieve more than 80% of them (“Mixed progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in the European Union” WHO, 2007). Their new approaches to health care and education after splitting with the Soviet Union have been extremely successful. An address given by Estonia’s foreign minister stressed that Estonia’s “well-focused resources will help to increase educational and health care opportunities for children, as well as the availability of clean drinking water. A rise in education would, in turn, help with awareness of serious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS” (Foreign Minister Paet: People in Conflict Zones Need More Aid” 2010). Estonia is currently making great efforts to becoming an official developed nation in the eyes of the European Union.
Goal 1
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Through the Millennium Development Goals, Estonia is striving to tackle two apparent target goals in relation to poverty and hunger. The first target is to halve the proportion of people living off less than one dollar a day throughout their population. According to the United Nations Statistics Division, Estonia has had a constant 2% of their population that falls into the extreme poverty rate from 1993 to 2003. The second target was to halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. In 1994 9% of Estonia’s population suffered from hunger. By 2002 only 3% of the population was affected by hunger from poverty. Since only 2% of Estonia’s 1.34 million people are affected by extreme poverty, halving the current levels should not be a problem by 2015. Since Estonia is a market-based economy, its levels of economic prosperity and hardship are based within its population’s decisions. Estonia’s increasing electronic and telecommunication sectors will give way to a much more advanced market of exports, with products like Skype and increased tourism throughout the country. Utilizing their current technological breakthroughs, Estonia could keep it population out of poverty, and allow its population to live fruitfully for years to come.
Goal 2
Achieve universal primary education
Estonia’s second goal involves making sure that boys and girls everywhere are completing primary schooling. Estonia has a very literate population of 99.8% of both boys and girls. In 1999 Estonia recored 95.6% of its children to be enrolled into primary education. From 1999 to 2001 the enrollment ratio rose to 96.7% to be Estonia’s record highest education enrollment. Only 3 years later enrollment fell once again to 94.1%, which is below the 1999 baseline. Since Estonia’s population is declining, and a lack of fertility has arose, this trend is most likely due to population problems rather than education losing its focus within Estonia. Looking at Estonia’s completion rate of primary education for both male and female students, we see an increasing amount of students finishing primary education than before. Statistics from the United Nations Statistics Division recorded a cumulative change of 12.40% (101.5) of students completing primary education, up from the value of 90.3 in 1999. Estonia uses a multiple tier education system to prepare its students, and allow them to pursue paths in multiple higher education fields by introducing vocational skills into the classroom.
Goal 3
Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
The target of this goal is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005, and to all levels of education by 2015. Estonia has been making extremely slow progress towards correcting its inequality since the millennium development goals were announced and today women only feel about 71% as empowered as men (Estonian Gender Gap Report 2009). With this lack of empowerment coupled with a lack of life opportunity, women are not able to help promote educational participation, health changes, and political empowerment within their own country. By addressing and changing the gender inequality, women can have a say in helping to promote Estonia's MDG, and create a much more diverse and fair population. These statistics are based on woman in higher education and in the work force, therefore showing Estonia has made little to no changes to stop gender inequality in any areas. According to Estonia’s United Nations Statistics division, women are becoming increasingly evident within education, and the study also revealed that Estonian women are 63 percent more likely than men to enroll in post-secondary education. Looking at both gender inequality, Estonia is making small strides to incorporate women into most of the education process, but on the front of empowerment Estonia has a long way to go if they are ever going to reach their goal by 2015.
Goal 4
Reduce Child Mortality
As of 2004 Estonia has an infant mortality rate of 8 deaths per 1000 births. In 1995 the child mortality rate was at its highest at 19 children under 5 dying per 1000 births. The target goal of Estonia’s child mortality rate is 2/3 lower than the 1990 rate of 16. As of 2004, Estonia has established their current goal, and with the rise in medical technology, Estonia should have no trouble keeping their child mortality rate below their goal limit. Infant mortality also has met the goal of 2/3 in 2010 by reducing the infant mortality rate to a mere 7.32 births per 1000 (CIA World Factbook 2010). Estonia has an extended immunization plan for children entering the education system; therefore they do not have any current concerns with immunization or mortality rates.
Goal 5
Improve Maternal Health
Estonia has slowly and steadily been increasing their maternal health capabilities by raising the percentage of births advised by a medical professional and prenatal care education. In 1992 the amount of births advised by a medical profession was 99.1%, which has increased to a mere 99.8%. Although the medical care for women is rising, maternal mortality as been on the rise since initial statistics were taken in 1990. Currently maternal mortality is at 63 women per 100,000 births, up from the initial 41 in 1990. Though there was a decrease in maternal mortality from the 1995 statistic of 80 maternal deaths, Estonia has to crack down on maternal mortality if they wish to meet their current goal. Current strides in infant mortality coupled with maternal mortality could help produce a much-needed spark in population growth by 2015.
Goal 6
Combat AIDS/HIV and Tuberculosis
The main UN goal that Estonia is most likely not to achieve is the fight against HIV/AIDS. The percentage of males infected with HIV in 2009 was 2.0% in comparison to most other European countries that fall well below 1% (World Population Data Sheet 2010). After 2000, a large increase in prevalence of the infection occurred in Estonia, with 9,900 people living with AIDs in 2010 (CIA World Factbook 2010). The illness is mostly spread through sharing infected syringes through drug use. While Estonia is not projected to meet the UN goal on HIV by 2015, they have made large efforts in improving their rates of infection. The “Anti-Aids” campaign was launched in 1992, and the “National Action Plan for HIV/AIDS” has been prevalent since 1997 (UNGASS narrative report, Estonia 2009). The government is hoping such programs will decrease their high rate of AIDS in comparison to the rest of the EU.
Tuberculosis is another major disease impacting Estonians, and like AIDs/HIV has become a predominate concern. When measured at the beginning of 1990, only 4.3 people died per 100,000 people in Estonia. By 2000, that statistic doubled to over 9.6. The prevalence of TB also increased from 1990 to 2000 by almost 35%. Although TB spread quickly for 1990 to 2000, it only took 4 years for Estonia to reduce both the prevalence of the disease, and of all cases curable. If the current trends continue as they have for the past 10 years, Estonia will undoubtedly eliminate the threat of TB from its population, and begin to focus more effort to finding the death rate in half. Also, Estonia managed to raise the treatment success of the disease to 69.7% a cure for AIDS.
Goal 7
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Estonia has made significant gains in the goal of sustaining their environment. Largely independent through their own oil shares and natural resources, they have recognized the need to sustain such resources. In 1995, the Act on Sustainable Development was approved, marking plans to further sustain their chemical, energy, transport, and agricultural sectors. They’ve also been active with the Baltic Agenda 21 program, a regional sustainable development operation, since 1998 (Sustainable Development in Estonia 2005). Estonia currently has a large reserve of natural resources, including oil shale, phosphorus, limestone, and oil clay (Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs 2010). With these natural resources, Estonia has created underwater electric lines to provide electricity to its surrounding areas. These power lines provide a much-needed system of electricity and life support to outskirt areas around Estonia, but they come at a cost. The natural resources needed to fuel much of the electricity throughout Estonia, comes from the burning of oil shale, which releases harmful gases into the environment. In the 1990’s, CO2 emissions skyrocketed to a peak point of 38,110 metric tons. Slowly but surely, Estonia reduced this rate to about half by 2004. Also, with the creation of new technologies, Ozone-Depleting Substances being released into the atmosphere have been controlled to almost eliminated numbers.
The second target of the environmental sustainability involves the implementation of sanitation facilities, and sanitary water sources. Estonia currently has no problems with sanitation and clean water availability, so they would not have any problems with this goal by 2015.
Goal 8
Develop a global partnership for development
Estonia has separated their final goal into three categories. The first target involves developing a system that deals with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures, so as to ensure debt sustainability. Estonia has given about 1% of their export goods and services to help the sustainment of debt programs within developing countries. Along with the strides of debt improvements, Estonia has also taken the youth population into consideration with employment help. According to the United Nations Statistics division, there are currently 2.4 youth (15-24 years old) to every 1 adult (25 and older) unemployed in the developing worlds. By motivating and creating productive work for youth, we can help create and promote economic changes in specific developing countries, and provide a brighter future for young people than previously offered by their country. Lastly, the final target involves making technology, communication, and information readily available with private sectors, so as to help promote technological advancement throughout the world. Estonia is currently the creator and headquarters for free web-based phone calls. This technology has made a huge impact on the world currently, allowing people to video or audio chat anywhere in the world. By spreading the power of technology both throughout Estonia, and the world, Estonia could help jump-start the rest of the world to follow suit in the quest to make the world a better place.
