Analytics, Baltic States – CIS, Education and Science, Estonia

The contacts of people of different nationalities living in Estonia have become closer, the Estonian-language skills of non-Estonians have improved and closer communication is not seen as a danger to losing one’s cultural characteristics, shows a fresh integration study, carried out by the International and Social Studies Institute of the Tallinn University with the support of the Culture Ministry and Integration and Migration Foundation Our People, writes LETA.

The wish of getting Estonian citizenship has fallen drastically among people who have no citizenship. While in 2005, 74% of such people wanted to have Estonian citizenship, in 2010 it was just 33%. In 2005, just 7% of persons with no citizenship said they didn’t want the citizenship of any state while in 2010, 40% said so. The share of persons with no citizenship in Estonian population is 7.5% at present.

Around two thirds of Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking people have friends or close acquaintances in the other group. 83% of Russian-speakers and 72% of Estonians do not agree to the claim that closer communication is a danger to losing one’s cultural characteristics.

Among Russian-speakers up to the age of 39, more than two thirds of the polled have satisfactory communication skills in the Estonian language while around three quarters can read Estonian.

Yet, the attitude of Russian speakers towards state institutions is rather negative. The trust towards seven state institutions was asked about. While for administrative institutions like the police, courts, municipalities, the difference in opinions wasn’t that big between speakers of Russian or Estonian language, for political institutions it was big, wrote Postimees Online. 31% of Russian speakers trust the police and 60% of Estonian speakers do. With courts the figures are 29 and 40 and municipalities 31 and 52%.

With the government, the trust of Russian speakers is 9% and that of Estonian speakers 32%. With Riigikogu the figures were 7 and 18, with the president 14 and 67%.