Estonia
Independence restored

The introduction of perestroika by the Soviet central government in 1987 made open political activity possible again in Estonia, which triggered an independence restoration process later known as laulev revolutsioon (" the Singing revolution "). The environmental Fosforiidisõda (" Phosphorite war ") campaign became the first major protest movement against the central government. In 1988, new political movements appeared, such as the Popular Front of Estonia, which came to represent the moderate wing in the independence movement, and the more radical Estonian National Independence Party, which was the first non-communist party in the Soviet Union and demanded full restoration of independence. On 16 November 1988, after the first non-rigged multi-candidate elections in half a century, the parliament of Soviet-controlled Estonia issued the Sovereignty Declaration, asserting the primacy of Estonian laws. Over the next two years, many other administrative parts (or "republics") of the USSR followed the Estonian example, issuing similar declarations. On 23 August 1989, about 2 million Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians participated in a mass demonstration, forming the Baltic Way human chain across the three countries. In February 1990, elections were held to form the Congress of Estonia. In March 1991, a referendum was held where 78.4% of voters supported full independence. During the coup attempt in Moscow, Estonia declared restoration of independence on 20 August 1991.

Soviet authorities recognised Estonian independence on 6 September 1991, and on 17 September Estonia was admitted into the United Nations. The last units of the Russian army left Estonia in 1994.

On 28 September 1994, the MS Estonia sank as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn, Estonia, to Stockholm, Sweden. The disaster claimed the lives of 852 people (501 of them were Swedes), being one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century.

In 1992 radical economic reforms were launched for switching over to a market economy, including privatisation and currency reform. Estonia has been a member of the WTO since 13 November 1999.

Since regaining independence in 1991, Estonian foreign policy has been aligned with other Western democracies, and in 2004 Estonia joined both the European Union and NATO. On 9 December 2010, Estonia became a member of OECD. On 1 January 2011, Estonia joined the eurozone and adopted the euro, the single currency of EU. Estonia was a member of the UN Security Council from 2020 to 2021.

The 100th Anniversary of the Estonian Republic was celebrated on 24 February 2018.

English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Estonia today. According to the most recent (2021) census data 76% of the population can speak a foreign language. After English, Russian is the second most widely spoken foreign language in Estonia, and in the census 17% of the native speakers of standard Estonian reported that they can also speak a dialect of Estonian.
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