Estonia Environment - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

air polluted with sulfur dioxide from oil-shale burning power plants in northeast; however, the amounts of pollutants emitted into the air have fallen dramatically and the pollution load of wastewater at purification plants has decreased substantially due to improved technology and environmental monitoring; Estonia has more than 1,400 natural and manmade lakes, the smaller of which in agricultural areas need to be monitored; coastal seawater is polluted in certain locations

Environment - international agreements

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 6.74 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 16.59 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 0.99 megatons (2020 est.)

Climate

maritime; wet, moderate winters, cool summers

Land use

agricultural land: 22.2% (2018 est.)

arable land: 14.9% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.1% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 7.2% (2018 est.)

forest: 52.1% (2018 est.)

other: 25.7% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 69.8% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: -0.03% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.85% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: intermediate (2020)

vectorborne diseases: tickborne encephalitis

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 473,000 tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 117,020 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 24.7% (2015 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 59.4 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 1.721 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 4.5 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

12.806 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Estonia on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Estonia 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Estonia 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.