Estonia, Good for Business, Innovations, Internet, Technology

Since the launch of the e-residency program, e-residents have established approximately 12,000 new companies in the Estonian economic space, Enterprise Estonia (EAS) said.

"Businesses created by e-residents help the Estonian economy grow and improve the lives of local people. The tax revenue received from them is used in education, social welfare and healthcare. In this way, the benefits reach a large number of Estonian people and their relatives," Ott Vatter, manager of the e-residency program, said in a press release.

The largest number of businesses in 2019 was registered in the information and communications sector and the field of professional, research and technical activity. Interest in these sectors has remained high since the start of the program. Currently, nearly 64 percent of companies founded by e-residents are registered specifically for these activities.

"These are high value-added fields that make a major contribution to Estonia's development and thus, to the well-being of local people," Vatter said, adding that in total, e-residents registered companies in about 20 different fields of activity last year.

The contribution of companies established by e-residents to the Estonian economy is manifested in many ways. "Firstly, the businesses of e-residents pay taxes to the state budget and create jobs in Estonia. Secondly, with their support, local companies, too, can successfully develop, who, in turn, help e-residents grow their companies through support services," Vatter said.

The e-residency program was launched at the end of 2014 with the aim of offering foreign nationals secure access to the e-services of the Estonian state. Holders of the e-resident's digital ID-card can digitally sign documents and log onto portals and information systems which recognize the Estonian ID-card. E-residency does not give its holder citizenship, tax residency, a residence permit or a permit to enter Estonia or the EU.

Since the program's launch, over 65,000 e-residents have created some 12,000 companies in Estonia. In addition to the indirect economic benefits stemming, among other things, from the growth and investment of Estonian companies serving e-residents, the program has generated over 35 mln euros of direct revenue to the Estonian economy over five years of operation.