Country report non-discrimination : transposition and implementation at national level of Council Directives 2000/43 and 2000/78 : Estonia [2023]

Estonia is a multi-party parliamentary democracy. The Estonian Republic declared its independence in 1918, but due to almost half a century of Soviet occupation (1944-1991), modern equality law came into existence only in 1992 with the adoption of the new Constitution. Estonia became a member of the European Union (EU) in 2004. The non-discrimination principle was further defined by the adoption of the Equal Treatment Act in 2009, which transposed the EU Directives 2000/78/EC and 2000/43/EC into the Estonian legal system. According to the 2021 national census, there were representatives of 211 nationalities residing in Estonia, but only 14 ethnic groups had more than 1 000 members. The biggest ethnic groups beside Estonians (69.1 %) are Russians (23.7 %) and Ukrainians (2.1 %). The Roma community is very small. In 2021 there were 676 people who identified themselves as Roma. Regardless of the small size of the community, the Roma have two associations who actively work on various social and cultural issues relevant for the Roma population. According to 2017 data, there are 149 900 persons with disabilities (11.4 % of the population) in Estonia. The disability movement in the post-occupation era dates to 1989 and is currently well institutionalised with the umbrella organisation, the Estonian Chamber of Disabled People, being represented across Estonia, with 16 county boards and with 32 nationwide disability-specific unions and associations as members. More than half of the population considers themselves non-religious (58 %) according to the 2021 census data. The largest religious group is Orthodox (16 %), followed by Lutherans (8 %), which was previously the largest religious community. The Constitution stipulates that there is no state church.