Natural hazards: flooding occurs frequently in the spring
Environment—current issues: air heavily polluted with sulfur dioxide from oil-shale burning power plants in northeast; contamination of soil and groundwater with petroleum products, chemicals at former Soviet military bases; Estonia has more than 1,400 natural and manmade lakes, the smaller of which in agricultural areas are heavily affected by organic waste; coastal sea water is polluted in many locations
Environment—international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ship Pollution, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
People
Population: 1,408,523 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 18% (male 130,883; female 126,112)
15-64 years: 67% (male 455,112; female 491,819)
65 years and over: 15% (male 66,700; female 137,897) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.82% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 9.05 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 14.21 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: -3.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)