Eesti in brief - 2012-09-20

  • 2012-09-19

According to Statistics Estonia, there are permanent residents of 192 ethnic nationalities in Estonia, based on the preliminary results of the 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC 2011), reports LETA. The biggest ethnic groups are Estonians, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Finns. According to the preliminary data of PHC 2011, 68.7 percent of Estonia’s permanent population are Estonians (889,770), 24.8 percent are Russians (321,198) and 1.7 percent are Ukrainians (22,302). The share of Belarusians (12,419) and Finns (7,423) is less than 1 percent. In total, there are 37 ethnic nationalities that have more than a hundred representatives in Estonia. Compared to the previous census of 2000, the share of Estonians has increased two percent, but the population of Estonians has decreased by 40,449 over 12 years. The share of Russians in the total population has decreased by about one percent, i.e. by 29,980. There has been a decrease in the populations of most of the larger ethnic groups. The number of Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Swedes, English, Americans, Italians, French, Dutch and Chinese has increased, compared to the previous population census. During the 2000 census, 142 ethnic nationalities were represented in Estonia.

The Estonian Veterinary and Food Board was to launch on Monday the autumn vaccination campaign of foxes and raccoons in areas near Latvian and Russian borders, reports Postimees Online. Since last year, the vaccine is not spread in the whole state, but in a 20-40 km area near the Latvian border, a 50 km area near the Russian land border and a 30 km area near the Narva River, the Veterinary and Food Board said. The vaccine will be spread by throwing special bait that contains the vaccine from splanes into the woods. The results of the vaccination program so far have been very good and, as a result, very few cases of rabies have been diagnosed in Estonia over the past couple of years. Vaccination lasts till Sept. 30.

A Russian Federation plane made an observation flight above Estonia on Friday in the framework of the Open Skies Treaty, reports Public Broadcasting. The joint observation flight of Russia and Belarus was made with the internationally certified plane An-30B, which is supplied with a vertical optical panorama photo camera. The photos that were taken will be processed in Russia, with an Estonian representative present. Estonia will get a copy, Estonian Defense Forces headquarters said. There were 18 persons in the plane’s crew and also 6 Estonian Defense Forces members who observed the activities of the observers and that they stuck to their route. The plane covered 800 km, which is allowed according to international requirements. Russia has conducted observation flights in Estonian air space every year since 2005. The Open Skies Treaty is a part of OSCE states security and trust measures.