Estonia (Eesti Vabarijk) is a Parliamentary democracy, it has land borders to the south with Latvia and to the east with Russia. It is separated from Finland in the north by the Gulf of Finland and from Sweden in the west by the Baltic Sea. Estonia is a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004. The state capital is Tallinn, the other cities are Tartu, Narva, Kohtla-Järve and Pärnu.

Estonian territory is extremely flat land, with just low hills in the south-east, the country's highest point is the Suur Munamägi (Munnaberg) in the south-east at 318 metres, the plains are rich of many lakes, indeed Estonia boasts over 1,400 lakes, most are very small, with the largest, Lake Peipus, (Peipsi) being 3 555 sqkm. Estonia coastline is marked by numerous islands, their number is estimated at some 1 500, two are the largest : Saaremaa and Hiiumaa.