By Toomas Hobemagi (January 19, 2012)
Estonian minister of foreign affairs Urmas Paet, writes in Eesti Paevaleht that Estonians often only laugh when some prominent organization issues a global ranking where Estonia is ranked relatively highly.
“But let us not forget that there are many things that we in Estonia consider normal, but that are only a dream for many countries in the world,” wrote Paet.
The minister mentions the Freedom House that in its 2011 freedom survey ranked Estonia among the group of totally free countries. Estonia’s freedom of press was ranked 23rd among 196 countries, better than UK, Canada, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and China.
The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Estonian democracy by its development level 33rd, right after France and Slovenia and ahead of Lithuania and Latvia.
Heritage Foundation said last year that Estonia was world leader in online freedom, ahead of the US and Germany.
Transparency International put Estonia in 26th place by perception of corruption, being the highest-ranked new EU member state. Moreover, Estonia was ranked 14th by economic freedom and 33rd by competitive ability.
World Economic Forum says Estonia is 33rd worldwide by its competitiveness and No. 1 among new EU member states. Estonia did well also in a survey on income equality and the UN human development report.”
“In short, let’s not forget that Estonia is a fairly good place to live in these turbulent times, but whether we can continue doing well depends from all of us,” concludes Paet.
