branches:Army, Navy, Air Force
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary and compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 16 months (2004)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18–49: NA (2005)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$151 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
13.4% (2004)
Transnational Issues Eritrea
Disputes - international:
Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by 2002 Ethiopia-Eritrea
Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but despite
international intervention, mutual animosities, accusations and
armed posturing prevail, preventing demarcation; Ethiopia refuses to
withdraw to the delimited boundary until technical errors made by
the EEBC that ignored "human geography" are addressed, including the
award of Badme, the focus of the 1998–2000 war; Eritrea insists that
the EEBC decision be implemented immediately without modifications;
since 2000, the UN Peacekeeping Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE) monitors the 25km-wide Temporary Security Zone in Eritrea
until the demarcation; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese
rebel groups; Eritrea protests Yemeni fishing around the Hanish
Islands awarded to Eritrea by the ICJ in 1999
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 59,000 (border war with Ethiopia from 1998–2000; most IDPs
are near the central border region) (2004)
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Estonia
Introduction Estonia
Background:
After centuries of Danish, Swedish, German, and Russian rule,
Estonia attained independence in 1918. Forcibly incorporated into
the USSR in 1940, it regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse
of the Soviet Union. Since the last Russian troops left in 1994,
Estonia has been free to promote economic and political ties with
Western Europe. It joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.
Geography Estonia
Location:
Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland,
between Latvia and Russia
Geographic coordinates:
59 00 N, 26 00 E
Map references:
Europe
Area:
total: 45,226 sq km
land: 43,211 sq km
water: 2,015 sq km
note: includes 1,520 islands in the Baltic Sea
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than New Hampshire and Vermont combined
Land boundaries: total: 633 km border countries: Latvia 339 km, Russia 294 km
Coastline:
3,794 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: limits fixed in coordination with
neighboring states
Climate:
maritime, wet, moderate winters, cool summers
Terrain:
marshy, lowlands; flat in the north, hilly in the south
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m
highest point: Suur Munamagi 318 m
Natural resources:
oil shale, peat, phosphorite, clay, limestone, sand, dolomite,
arable land, sea mud
Land use: arable land: 16.04% permanent crops: 0.45% other: 83.51% (2001)
Irrigated land:
40 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
sometimes flooding occurs in the spring
Environment - current issues:
air polluted with sulfur dioxide from oil-shale burning power
plants in northeast; however, the amount of pollutants emitted to
the air have fallen steadily, the emissions of 2000 were 80% less
than in 1980; the amount of unpurified wastewater discharged to
water bodies in 2000 was one twentieth the level of 1980; in
connection with the start-up of new water purification plants, the
pollution load of wastewater decreased; 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-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
