Eesti in brief - 2010-10-14

A 61-year-old woman suffering from a chronic lung disease on Oct. 7 received a lung transplant in the Tartu University Hospital, reports National Broadcasting. This was the first lung transplant operation in Estonia and the hospital had been preparing for it for years. The surgery was carried out by Tanel Laisaar, M.D. with his team. According to Dr. Laisaar, the patient’s progress thus far has complied with expectations and the patient is currently in the intensive care unit. The hospital said preparations for surgery began nearly three years ago when the hospital’s doctors started co-operating on lung transplants with colleagues from the University of Vienna Hospital.

Estonia’s population is constantly decreasing despite the growth in the birth rate in the past decade and, according to the estimates of the UN, Estonia’s population will be 100,000 people less 2050, reports Postimees. Population scientist Allan Puur says that the average number of children per woman should be 2.06-2.07 for the population number to be in balance. Last year, the rate in Estonia was 1.63. The situation will be eased by the fact that many women have postponed having children and have them at a later age than usual in Estonia. The UN forecasts thus that by 2050, Estonia’s population will fall to 1,233,000 people. The Eurostat forecast is even more pessimistic but they use data from the middle of the 2000s, which are a bit worse than reality, Puur said.

The international economic publication Emerging Markets declared Estonia’s finance minister Jurgen Ligi the best finance minister of developing Europe 2010, reports Eesti Paevaleht Online. Emerging Markets describes Ligi as the finance minister who channelled the Estonian economy from the grave fall to an increase and into the eurozone. Ligi said that the award is recognition to the whole of Estonia for common efforts. “This award is an example out of many that the Estonian model of passing through the economic crisis is recognized as efficient and worthy of following,” said Ligi. The award was given to Ligi on Oct. 9 during the World Bank and IMF annual meeting in Washington.