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Almost every home has a loaf of bread, a bit of sugar, flour, butter or cooking oil, and some groats. There is an average of 37 kg of potatoes as well as tens of kg of other food products per person, the fresh study commissioned by the Agriculture Ministry indicates.

The ministry said that the study was necessary to find out what the fridges, pantries and cellars of people contain – this way the state will know how long the population can survive on the food supplies they have during a crisis or emergency situation.

The poll was carried out in September and 1,534 families or households in Estonia were polled.

The study indicated that the pantries contain 99,000 tonnes of food products, an average of 74 kg per person. Plus 12 million litres of liquids (mainly jams, canned fruits, juices) i.e. an average of some 9 litres per person.

Just a fifth of the consumed food products have been grown by people or picked from woods. While 9 out of 10 people in Central, Southern and Western Estonia can survive some days without shopping for food, only 7-8 people out of 10 in Tallinn, Northern and North Eastern Estonia can do that.

42% of households buy food for 1-2 days, 38% for 3-4 days. Buying food for more than 5 days in advance is rare and done only by people in rural areas where shops are far away. Still, 85% of people have some food supply at home: either a pack of pasta, some canned meat or fish, a kg or two of potatoes.

“The results of the sturdy lead to the conclusion that the population can manage without state aid for an average of 3-7 days,” said Agriculture Ministry PR department acting head Hindrek Riikoja, adding that people living in apartment buildings in cities and in Northern and North Eastern Estonia are more vulnerable.