Over 46 000 saw matches of UEFA U-19 finals in Estonia

The 11th Football European Under-19 Championship finals held in Estonia from 3-15 July were extremely popular with the public, attracting 46 412 spectators or on average 3 094 spectators per match, organisers said. The 15 matches of the finals were played in the capital Tallinn and in the regional capitals Rakvere and Haapsalu.

Compared with the spectator numbers of the earlier UEFA U-19 championship finals, Estonia beat Finland, which had 29 700 spectators, Norway with 28 091, Switzerland with 43 170, the Czech Republic with 45 484, Northern Ireland with 19 464, Romania with 22 000, and Liechtenstein with 20 510 spectators, the Estonian Football Association told BNS.

The director of the competition, Anne Rei, said she had received personal thanks from all teams along with expressions of satisfaction with the quality of the pitches, hotels, organisation of transport, level of volunteers, and the number of spectators.

The tournament ended with Spain defending their title, which resulted in a 1-0 (0-0) victory over Greece at Tallinn’s Lilleküla stadium on Sunday night. It took Spain 80 minutes to break down Greece but their victory in Estonia was their sixth in just 11 editions of the competition. The late goal to make Spain champions again was scored by Jese Rodriguez.

Spain was also victorious 2-1 when the two sides met previously in group A of the Tallinn tournament.

Source: Estonian Review

Traffic in Estonian airspace grew by tenth

The national air traffic services company Lennuliiklusteeninduse AS (Estonian Air Navigation Services) served 94 709 flights in the airspace of Estonia during the first six months of this year, 9% more than in the same period a year ago.

More than two-thirds of the flights taking place in the Estonian airspace are overflights. The number of flights that passed through the Estonian airspace was 67 514, the number of inbound and outbound flights was 22 848, and flights within Estonia numbered 4 347. In comparison with the first six months of 2011, the number of inbound and outbound flights increased the most, or by 40.5%. The number of flights within the country grew 14.2% and that of overflights one percent.

The biggest number of flights in any separate month during the first half-year took place in June, 18 452, and the smallest number, 13 234, in February. In the first six months of 2011 the company served 86 890 flights and during the whole year it served 182 979 flights. During 2010 it served 160 723 flights.

The density of air traffic in the Estonian airspace has been growing constantly since the country re-established its independence, with the only setback happening in 2009 when 156 518 flights were served, 11.3% fewer than in 2008.

The number of flights served in 1993 was 35 902 and in 2000, 81 252. Flights served last year mark a 410% increase over 1993 and a 125% increase over 2000.

Source: Estonian Review

Trade decreased in April

According to Statistics Estonia, in April 2012, exports of goods from Estonia decreased by 7% and imports to Estonia by 4% at current prices compared to April of the previous year. Compared to the same month of the previous year, exports decreased already for the second month in succession, which is also influenced by the high comparison basis last year. Trade decreased also compared to March.

In April 2012, exports from Estonia amounted to 1 billion euros and imports to Estonia to 1.1 billion euros at current prices. The trade deficit was 97 million euros and it slightly increased compared to April 2011.

In monthly basis or compared to the previous month, exports and imports increased during the first months of the year, but in April compared to March exports decreased by 5% and imports by 7%. The decrease in exports turnover was mainly influenced by the decrease in the dispatches of machinery and equipment, and imports turnover by the decrease in the arrivals of mineral fuels.

In Estonia’s exports in April, the biggest share was held by machinery and equipment (28% of Estonia’s total exports), followed by mineral fuels (incl. motor spirits, shale oils and electricity) (17%) and metals and products thereof (10%). The decrease in exports compared to April 2011 was mainly influenced by the decrease in the dispatches of fuels and machinery and equipment (down by 33% and 5%, respectively). The slight increase was mentioned in the dispatches of the raw materials and products of chemical industry (the growth rate 20%).

In April the biggest share of Estonia’s imports was held by machinery and equipment (26% of Estonia’s total imports), followed by mineral fuels (15%) and transport equipment (12%). The decrease in total imports compared to the previous year, was mostly influenced by a decrease in the arrivals of mineral fuels (down by 47%). Only the arrivals of transport equipment increased significantly (by 52%).

The top destination countries of Estonia’s exports were Finland (15% of Estonia’s total exports), followed by Sweden (14%) and Russia (11%). Compared to April 2011, the decrease in total exports was mostly influenced by the decrease in the dispatches to Sweden and the USA (down by 29% and 47%, respectively). Exports to Russia increased by 21%. Electrical equipment, wood and products of wood and furniture were the main commodities exported to Finland and Sweden, mechanical and electrical equipment and dying products to Russia.

The main countries of consignment were Finland (14% of Estonia’s total imports), Sweden and Lithuania (10% both). Compared to April 2011, arrivals of goods from Russia and Latvia decreased significantly (down by 57% and 31%, respectively). But arrivals of goods from Lithuania and Ukraine increased. Fuels were the main commodities imported from Finland and Lithuania, electrical equipment and transport equipment from Sweden.

According to Estonian Institute of Economic Research, the economic sentiment indicator, which reflects Estonia’s entrepreneurs’ and consumers’ confidence, has also shown a positive trend in the first months of the year. But in April the indicator deteriorated. The same indicator decreased in May besides Estonia also in Sweden and Finland.

Estonian trade by months, 2010–2012

Read more from Statistics Estonia

Oldest pharmacy in Europe marks 590th anniversary

On Saturday Estonia’s oldest pharmacy, the Raeapteek (Town Hall Pharmacy) situated in the centre of Tallinn’s Old Town, is marking 590 years since it was first mentioned in written records. The first mention of the Raeapteek in town council records dates back to 1422, when a pharmacist called Nyclawes expressed readiness to serve the town council, the Tallinn city government said. However, as at least two persons ran the pharmacy before him it is not known to this day exactly when the pharmacy was established.

As far as is known, the Raeapteek is the oldest continuously operating pharmacy in Europe and medical institution in Estonia, as well as the oldest business in Estonia that has continuously occupied the same premises.

In addition to their role as pharmacists, owners of the Raeapteek actively participated in governing the city and in its cultural and social life. For nearly three centuries the property was owned and the pharmacy run by ten successive generations of the Burchart family.

In addition to medicines, the pharmacy sold paper, ink, precious stones, spices, gunpowder and other goods. Spiced wine and marzipan are two products sold to this day whose recipes date back to the 15th century.

The Raeapteek continues operating as a pharmacy and a museum.

Source: Estonian Review

Tallinn 89th city in quality of living index

Tallinn is in 89th place, unchanged from last year, in the fresh worldwide quality of living ranking published by the international consultancy Mercer Human Resource Consulting on Tuesday.

Vienna has the best living standard in the world, according to the Mercer 2011 Quality of Living Survey. Zurich and Auckland follow in second and third position, respectively, and Munich is in fourth with Duesseldorf and Vancouver sharing fifth place. Frankfurt is in seventh, followed by Geneva in eighth, while Copenhagen and Bern share ninth place.

Of the Baltic capitals, Vilnius placed 79th, while Riga was two notches behind Tallinn in place 91. The rankings of all three capitals didn’t change from the similar survey for 2010. Stockholm ranked 20th and Helsinki is 35th.

The Ukrainian capital Kiev was in place 161 and the Russian capital Moscow in 165th place. At the bottom of the table, in place 221, came the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Mercer conducts the survey to help governments and multi-national companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. The index list covers 221 cities, ranked against New York as the base city. Mercer evaluates local living conditions according to 39 factors, grouped in 10 categories ranging from political and social environment, economic environment, socio-cultural environment, health and sanitation to availability of food and the natural environment.

Source: Estonian Review

First 4G commercial network in Estonia opened

On Dec.16, 2010 the telecommunications operator EMT opened the first ever commercial fourth generation mobile communications (4G) network in Estonia. EMT said Estonia was the 11th country in the world where a 4G network was open to customers.
The CEO of EMT, Valdo Kalm, said that EMT opened the first 4G test network in Estonia back in February and success of the tests enabled it to launch the 4G commercial network immediately after receiving the frequency license.
The Technical Surveillance Authority issued EMT a 4G frequency license on Thursday. 4G, or fourth generation of cellular wireless standards, enables high speed data transmission up to five times faster than the current 3G network and is comparable with the broadband network.
With 4G, many new services become possible, for example, mobile TV in high definition, mobile conference calls and high-tech virtual reality applications.
In EMT’s 4G network the maximum data transmission speed is 100 Mbps and average speeds range from 20 to 80 Mbps.

Source: Estonian Review

Over half of the Estonians support transition to the euro

Of Estonian residents 54% support transition to the euro, five percentage points more than in October, it appears from the euro monitoring poll ordered by the Estonian Finance Ministry and the State Chancellery.
In November 36% of the respondents did not support the transition to the common currency and 10% were not able to state their point of view. In October 40% of the residents were not in favour of the introduction of the euro. Compared with the previous poll support has increased more than the average among women and the oldest group of residents, the Finance Ministry said.
The residents’ information about the euro has also increased – this could be seen from both the respondents’ self-assessment as well as knowledge of the facts of the practical transition to the euro. In the November survey 89% of those interviewed believed that they were well or sufficiently informed about the changeover to the euro, while 13% found that additional information was necessary. In October the corresponding figures were 84 and 21%.
According to Kalev Petti, the person in charge of the poll, the circumstance that the people had received more concrete and practical news instead of general information had contributed to the increased support for the European currency.

Source: Estonian Review

Development of Estonian language to get 6MEUR

The Estonian government is going to allocate over six million euros for the development of the Estonian language, a sum equal to 0.1% of the Estonian state budget during seven years, the daily Eesti Päevaleht reported.
Next week Education and Research Minister Tõnis Lukas will presumably send for endorsement to the government the Estonian language development plan for the next seven years. Its compilers want to allocate 959 633 000 kroons (EUR 6.13 mln) for keeping the language current and alive.
“The main idea of the plan is to keep the Estonian language at a level that could be used also in 2050,” said Jüri Valge, language policy adviser to the Ministry for Education and Research and one of the authors of the development plan, adding that Estonian is already a well-developed language. “It is now necessary to take care that young people don’t switch to English and will continue to want to learn and use the language,” Valge added.
A large proportion of the activities in the development plan have been projected into the sphere of education. So the development plan foresees linking the study of Estonian and other subjects, the introduction of state exams in two parts starting next year, and obligatory upgrading for teachers of Estonian. Teachers may also get the opportunity for a paid sabbatical year or half year. Concerning dialectal languages, compilers of the development plan have set the aim at increasing the volume of dialectal television and radio programmes from the present 20 minutes to 50 minutes, and find that instead of the present 7 000 people at least 8 000 people should take part in dialectal mass events every year.
The programme sets the aim of 190 million kroons allocated for linguistic research and the compilation of dictionaries and 119 million kroons for the development of language technology.

Source: Estonian Review

Estonia among countries with high human development

In the United Nations human development report, Estonia has climbed to a place among countries with very high human development and is listed as No 34 among 169 countries.
Compared with last year Estonia’s position in the UN human development report has improved, as last year Estonia was listed as No 40 at the head of countries with a high level of human development. In the report released on Thursday, Norway is in the first place like last year, followed by Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Sweden, a country with very high human development, is listed as No 9 and Finland as No 16. Lithuania and Latvia are listed as No 44 and 48 and Russia as No 65 among countries of high human development.

Source: Estonian Review

Newsweek ranks Estonia 32nd best country in world

Estonia ranks 32nd in the Newsweek list of the best countries in the world in terms of national well-being with Finland rated as the best of 100.

The magazine chose five categories of well-being – education, health, quality of life, economic competitiveness and political environment – using data from international studies for the survey. Estonia scored 93.32 points out of a maximum 100 for education, 75.85 for health, 71.50 for quality of life, 51.27 for the economy, and 73.23 for political environment.

By Newsweek’s rankings, the overall level of well-being is highest in Finland, followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan and Denmark.

Out of the 100 countries listed, Burkina Faso has the lowest level of well-being, preceded by Nigeria and Cameroon.
Lithuania placed 34th, Latvia 36th and Russia 51st. Ahead of Estonia was Slovakia in 31st and Hungary followed in 33rd. More than half of the world’s countries were not included in the list.

The education scores were based on the results of international PISA tests and CIA Factbook literacy data. Health was evaluated by the World Health Organization’s data of life expectancy, years of healthy life, and levels of sickness and injuries. Quality of life was judged by data on income levels, gender gap in earnings, poverty, standard of life, number of suicides, crime levels, state of the environment, and level of unemployment provided by the United Nations and its organizations, the World Bank, CIA Factbook, and other international organizations. In assessing economic development, international organizations’ data on gross domestic product, utilization of resources, innovation, economic reforms and stock market were taken into consideration. Political environment was measured on the basis of Freedom House and other international organizations’ data on political and civic freedoms.

Source: Baltic News Service