How’s life in the digital age in Estonia?
Estonia belongs to the group of countries with a relatively high performance in opportunities and low risks, as compared to the OECD average. People in Estonia have high levels of access to the internet and use it for a large range of purposes, for instance to get access to health information online. The government has embraced a strong e-government strategy, which is not impeded by lack of skills to use e-government services, as Estonia ranks first in this regard. The labour market provides substantial returns to ICT skills, and employment in information industries as a share of total employment is the second largest among OECD countries. There is still scope for improvement, as about one fourth of Estonian people report having experienced digital security incidents (versus 19% on average among the OECD) and 24% of teachers report lacking ICT skills, as compared to 20% on average among OECD countries. While the share of extreme Internet users among children is slightly above the average, Estonia records fairly low levels of cyberbullying, especially compared to the other two Baltic States, where this problem is more prevalent.
Note: This wheel depicts Estonia’s relative performance in terms of key opportunities and risks in the context of the digital transformation. The centre of the wheel corresponds to the lowest outcome observed across all OECD countries, while the outer circle corresponds to the highest outcome. For opportunities (in dark blue) longer bars indicate better outcomes, whereas for risks (in yellow), longer bars indicate worse outcomes. If data are missing for any given indicator, the relevant segment of the circle is shaded in white.