Észtország: soknemzetiségű környezet
The Multiethnic Environment in Estonia

Summary/Abstract: Resulting from the Soviet era, Estonia has a large immigrant population, most of whom felt disoriented by the collapse of Soviet Union and its "planned" economy. As a result, Estonia is undergoing massive structural changes in its economic developments, but must also face the challenge of integrating a society in which approximately one-third of the population of 1.35 million belongs to ethnically non-Estonian minorities. The Director of the Non-Estonians' Integration Foundation analyses the result of a comprehensive public opinion survey dealing with ethnic relations in Estonia in 2005. The conclusion is that the willingness of young Russian Estonians to work and live with ethnicities not largely present in Estonia today is higher than the willingness of ethnic Estonians. Among non-Estonians, tolerance is developing quicker than among Estonians. The high level of openness of Russian Estonians characterizing themselves as Estonian citizens is an indicator for creating measures to speed up the naturalisation process.

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