title: Estonia

text: Across Estonia, between 2001 and 2019, Natura 2000 areas lost more than 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of forest cover. The last five years account for 80% of that loss. Further alterations to rules in other Estonian national parks are planned. This practice is also being pursued by RMK, the state forest management company, which manages around half of Estonian forests.


title: Estonia

text: European Commission recently initiated infringement proceedings against Estonia for failing to properly implement the environmental impact assessment requirements laid down in EU law when permitting logging at Natura 2000 sites. Foreign media has also drawn attention to increasingly extensive logging in protected Estonian forests. For example, an investigative article published in Ingenioren, a Danish weekly newspaper specializing in engineering topics, highlighted that Estonian and Latvian wood pellets come from Natura 2000 protected areas and the annual increase in felling volumes is due to demand from other countries, including Denmark, for heating with -neutral biomass. The activities of the Estonian Ministry of the Environment directly violate EU measures to restrict protected forests, in particular the requirements and principles of the European Habitats Directive.


title: Estonia

text: Amidst the other concern with regards to loss of biodiversity, there are now proposals put forward by the Estonian Ministry of Environment to slash water body shoreline protected zones to 20 meters. The legal amendment, if it were to pass, would particularly affect Estonia's islands, where protected zones are 200 meters from the shore, causing concern in nature conservationists.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia is a unitary parliamentary republic. The unicameral parliament Riigikogu serves as the legislative and the government as the executive.


title: Estonia

text: Estonian parliament Riigikogu is elected by citizens over 18 years of age for a four-year term by proportional representation, and has 101 members. Riigikogu's responsibilities include approval and preservation of the national government, passing legal acts, passing the state budget, and conducting parliamentary supervision. On proposal of the president Riigikogu appoints the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the chairman of the board of the Bank of Estonia, the Auditor General, the Legal Chancellor, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces.


title: Estonia

text: The Government of Estonia is formed by the Prime Minister of Estonia at recommendation of the President, and approved by the Riigikogu. The government, headed by the Prime Minister, represent the political leadership of the country and carry out domestic and foreign policy. Ministers head ministries and represent its interests in the government. Sometimes ministers with no associated ministry are appointed, known as "ministers without portfolio". Estonia has been ruled by coalition governments because no party has been able to obtain an absolute majority in the parliament.


title: Estonia

text: The head of the state is the President who has primarily representative and ceremonial role. There are no referendums on the election of the president, but the president is elected by the Riigikogu, or by a special electoral college. The President proclaims the laws passed in the Riigikogu, and has right to refuse proclamation and return law in question for a new debate and decision. If Riigikogu passes the law unamended, then the President has right to propose to the Supreme Court to declare the law unconstitutional. The President also represents the country in international relations.


title: Estonia

text: The Constitution of Estonia also provides possibility for direct democracy through referendum, although since adoption of the constitution in 1992 the only referendum has been the referendum on European Union membership in 2003.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia has pursued the development of the e-government, with 99 percent of the public services being available on the web 24 hours a day. In 2005 Estonia became the first country in the world to introduce nationwide binding Internet voting in local elections of 2005. In 2019 parliamentary elections 44% of the total votes were cast over the internet.


title: Estonia

text: In the most recent parliamentary elections of 2019, five parties gained seats at Riigikogu. The head of the Centre Party, Jüri Ratas, formed the government together with Conservative People's Party and Isamaa, while Reform Party and Social Democratic Party became the opposition. In January 2021 Ratas resigned as prime minister in the wake of a corruption scandal, and Reform Party leader Kaja Kallas became Estonia's first female prime minister. The new government was a two-party coalition between the country's two biggest political parties Reform Party and Centre Party. In July 2022, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas formed a new three-party coalition by her liberal Reform Party, the Social Democrats, and the conservative Isamaa party. Her previous government had lost its parliamentary majority after the centre-left Centre Party left the coalition.


title: Estonia

text: The Constitution of Estonia is the fundamental law, establishing the constitutional order based on five principles: human dignity, democracy, rule of law, social state, and the Estonian identity. Estonia has a civil law legal system based on the Germanic legal model. The court system has a three-level structure. The first instance are county courts which handle all criminal and civil cases, and administrative courts which hear complaints about government and local officials, and other public disputes. The second instance are district courts which handle appeals about the first instance decisions. The Supreme Court is the court of cassation, and also conducts constitutional review, it has 19 members. The judiciary is independent, judges are appointed for life, and can be removed from office only when convicted by court for a criminal deed. The Estonian justice system has been rated among the most efficient in the European Union by the EU Justice Scoreboard.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia was a member of the League of Nations from 22 September 1921, and became a member of the United Nations on 17 September 1991. Since restoration of independence Estonia has pursued close relations with the Western countries, and has been member of NATO since 29 March 2004, as well as the European Union since 1 May 2004. In 2007, Estonia joined the Schengen Area, and in 2011 the Eurozone. The European Union Agency for large-scale IT systems is based in Tallinn, which started operations at the end of 2012. Estonia held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2017.


title: Estonia

text: Since the early 1990s, Estonia has been involved in active trilateral Baltic states co-operation with Latvia and Lithuania, and Nordic-Baltic co-operation with the Nordic countries. Estonia is a member of the interparliamentary Baltic Assembly, the intergovernmental Baltic Council of Ministers and the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Estonia has built close relationship with the Nordic countries, especially Finland and Sweden, and is a member of Nordic-Baltic Eight "(NB-8)" uniting Nordic and Baltic countries. Joint Nordic-Baltic projects include the education programme Nordplus and mobility programmes for business and industry and for public administration. The Nordic Council of Ministers has an office in Tallinn with a subsidiaries in Tartu and Narva. The Baltic states are members of Nordic Investment Bank, European Union's Nordic Battle Group, and in 2011 were invited to co-operate with Nordic Defence Cooperation in selected activities.


title: Estonia

text: The beginning of the attempt to redefine Estonia as "Nordic" was seen in December 1999, when then Estonian foreign minister (and President of Estonia from 2006 until 2016) Toomas Hendrik Ilves delivered a speech entitled "Estonia as a Nordic Country" to the Swedish Institute for International Affairs, with potential political calculation behind it being wish to distinguish Estonia from more slowly progressing southern neighbours, which could have postponed early participation in European Union enlargement for Estonia too. Andres Kasekamp argued in 2005, that relevance of identity discussions in Baltic states decreased with their entrance into EU and NATO together, but predicted, that in the future, attractiveness of Nordic identity in Baltic states will grow and eventually, five Nordic states plus three Baltic states will become a single unit.


title: Estonia

text: Other Estonian international organisation memberships include OECD, OSCE, WTO, IMF, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and on 7 June 2019, was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term that began on 1 January 2020.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia has very actively supported Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing highest support relative to its gross domestic product.


title: Estonia

text: The Estonian Defence Forces consist of land forces, navy, and air force. The current national military service is compulsory for healthy men between ages of 18 and 28, with conscripts serving 8 or 11-month tours of duty, depending on their education and position provided by the Defence Forces. The peacetime size of the Estonian Defence Forces is about 6,000 persons, with half of those being conscripts. The planned wartime size of the Defence Forces is 60,000 personnel, including 21,000 personnel in high readiness reserve. Since 2015 the Estonian defence budget has been over 2% of GDP, fulfilling its NATO defence spending obligation.


title: Estonia

text: The Estonian Defence League is a voluntary national defence organisation under management of Ministry of Defence. It is organised based on military principles, has its own military equipment, and provides various different military training for its members, including in guerilla tactics. The Defence League has 16,000 members, with additional 10,000 volunteers in its affiliated organisations.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia co-operates with Latvia and Lithuania in several trilateral Baltic defence co-operation initiatives. As part of Baltic Air Surveillance Network (BALTNET) the three countries manage the Baltic airspace control center, Baltic Battalion (BALTBAT) has participated in the NATO Response Force, and a joint military educational institution Baltic Defence College is located in Tartu.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia joined NATO in 2004. NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence was established in Tallinn in 2008. In response to Russian war in Ukraine, since 2017 a NATO Enhanced Forward Presence battalion battle group has been based in Tapa Army Base. Also part of NATO Baltic Air Policing deployment has been based in Ämari Air Base since 2014. In European Union Estonia participates in Nordic Battlegroup and Permanent Structured Cooperation.


title: Estonia

text: Since 1995 Estonia has participated in numerous international security and peacekeeping missions, including: Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Kosovo, and Mali. The peak strength of Estonian deployment in Afghanistan was 289 soldiers in 2009. 11 Estonian soldiers have been killed in missions of Afghanistan and Iraq.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia is a unitary country with a single-tier local government system. Local affairs are managed autonomously by local governments. Since administrative reform in 2017, there are in total 79 local governments, including 15 towns and 64 rural municipalities. All municipalities have equal legal status and form part of a "maakond" (county), which is an administrative subunit of the state. Representative body of local authorities is municipal council, elected at general direct elections for a four-year term. The council appoints local government, headed by a mayor. For additional decentralization the local authorities may form municipal districts with limited authority, currently those have been formed in Tallinn and Hiiumaa.


title: Estonia

text: Separately from administrative units, there are also settlement units: village, small borough, borough, and town. Generally, villages have less than 300, small boroughs have between 300 and 1000, boroughs and towns have over 1000 inhabitants.


title: Estonia

text: As a member of the European Union, Estonia is considered a high-income economy by the World Bank. The GDP (PPP) per capita of the country was $29,312 in 2016 according to the International Monetary Fund. Because of its rapid growth, Estonia has often been described as a Baltic Tiger beside Lithuania and Latvia. Beginning 1 January 2011, Estonia adopted the euro and became the 17th eurozone member state.


title: Estonia

text: According to Eurostat, Estonia had the lowest ratio of government debt to GDP among EU countries at 6.7% at the end of 2010.


title: Estonia

text: A balanced budget, almost non-existent public debt, flat-rate income tax, free trade regime, competitive commercial banking sector, innovative e-Services and even mobile-based services are all hallmarks of Estonia's market economy.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia produces about 75% of its consumed electricity. In 2011, about 85% of it was generated with locally mined oil shale. Alternative energy sources such as wood, peat, and biomass make up approximately 9% of primary energy production. Renewable wind energy was about 6% of total consumption in 2009. Estonia imports petroleum products from western Europe and Russia. Estonia imports 100% of its natural gas from Russia. Oil shale energy, telecommunications, textiles, chemical products, banking, services, food and fishing, timber, shipbuilding, electronics, and transportation are key sectors of the economy. The ice-free port of Muuga, near Tallinn, is a modern facility featuring good transshipment capability, a high-capacity grain elevator, chill/frozen storage, and new oil tanker off-loading capabilities. The railroad serves as a conduit between the West, Russia, and other points.


title: Estonia

text: Because of the global economic recession that began in 2007, the GDP of Estonia decreased by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter of 2008, over 3% in the 3rd quarter of 2008, and over 9% in the 4th quarter of 2008. The Estonian government made a supplementary negative budget, which was passed by Riigikogu. The revenue of the budget was decreased for 2008 by EEK 6.1 billion and the expenditure by EEK 3.2 billion. In 2010, the economic situation stabilised and started a growth based on strong exports. In the fourth quarter of 2010, Estonian industrial output increased by 23% compared to the year before. The country has been experiencing economic growth ever since.


title: Estonia

text: According to Eurostat data, Estonian PPS GDP per capita stood at 67% of the EU average in 2008. In 2017, the average monthly gross salary in Estonia was €1221.


title: Estonia

text: However, there are vast disparities in GDP between different areas of Estonia; currently, over half of the country's GDP is created in Tallinn. In 2008, the GDP per capita of Tallinn stood at 172% of the Estonian average, which makes the per capita GDP of Tallinn as high as 115% of the European Union average, exceeding the average levels of other counties.


title: Estonia

text: The unemployment rate in March 2016 was 6.4%, which is below the EU average, while real GDP growth in 2011 was 8.0%, five times the euro-zone average. In 2012, Estonia remained the only euro member with a budget surplus, and with a national debt of only 6%, it is one of the least indebted countries in Europe.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia's economy continues to benefit from a transparent government and policies that sustain a high level of economic freedom, ranking 6th globally and 2nd in Europe. The rule of law remains strongly buttressed and enforced by an independent and efficient judicial system. A simplified tax system with flat rates and low indirect taxation, openness to foreign investment, and a liberal trade regime have supported the resilient and well-functioning economy. , the Ease of Doing Business Index by the World Bank Group places the country 16th in the world. The strong focus on the IT sector through its e-Estonia program has led to much faster, simpler and efficient public services where for example filing a tax return takes less than five minutes and 98% of banking transactions are conducted through the internet. Estonia has the 13th lowest business bribery risk in the world, according to TRACE Matrix.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia is a developed country with an advanced, high-income economy that was among the fastest-growing in the EU since its entry in 2004. The country ranks very high in the Human Development Index, and compares well in measures of economic freedom, civil liberties, education, and press freedom. Estonian citizens receive universal health care, free education, and the longest paid maternity leave in the OECD. One of the world's most digitally-advanced societies,


title: Estonia

text: in 2005 Estonia became the first state to hold elections over the Internet, and in 2014, the first state to provide e-residency.


title: Estonia

text: In 1928, a stable currency, the "kroon", was established. It is issued by the Bank of Estonia, the country's central bank. The word "kroon" (, "crown") is related to that of the other Nordic currencies (such as the Swedish krona and the Danish and Norwegian krone). The kroon succeeded the mark in 1928 and was used until 1940. After Estonia regained its independence, the kroon was reintroduced in 1992.


title: Estonia

text: Since re-establishing independence, Estonia has styled itself as the gateway between East and West and aggressively pursued economic reform and integration with the West. Estonia's market reforms put it among the economic leaders in the former COMECON area. In 1994, based on the economic theories of Milton Friedman, Estonia became one of the first countries to adopt a flat tax, with a uniform rate of 26% regardless of personal income. This rate has since been reduced three times, to 24% in January 2005, 23% in January 2006, and most recently to 21% by January 2008. The Government of Estonia finalised the design of Estonian euro coins in late 2004, and adopted the euro as the country's currency on 1 January 2011, later than planned due to continued high inflation. A Land Value Tax is levied which is used to fund local municipalities. It is a state-level tax, but 100% of the revenue is used to fund Local Councils. The rate is set by the Local Council within the limits of 0.1–2.5%. It is one of the most important sources of funding for municipalities. The Land Value Tax is levied on the value of the land only with improvements and buildings not considered. Very few exemptions are considered on the land value tax and even public institutions are subject to the tax. The tax has contributed to a high rate (~90%) of owner-occupied residences within Estonia, compared to a rate of 67.4% in the United States.


title: Estonia

text: In 1999, Estonia experienced its worst year economically since it regained independence in 1991, largely because of the impact of the 1998 Russian financial crisis. Estonia joined the WTO in November 1999. With assistance from the European Union, the World Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank, Estonia completed most of its preparations for European Union membership by the end of 2002 and now has one of the strongest economies of the new member states of the European Union. Estonia joined the OECD in 2010.


title: Estonia

text: The Port of Tallinn, taking into account both cargo and passenger traffic, is one of the largest port enterprises of the Baltic Sea. In 2018, the enterprise was listed in Tallinn Stock Exchange. It was the first time in nearly 20 years in Estonia when a state-owned company went public in Estonia. It was also the 2nd largest IPO in Nasdaq Tallinn in the number of retail investors participating. The Republic of Estonia remains the largest shareholder and holds 67% of the company.


title: Estonia

text: Owned by AS Eesti Raudtee, there are many significant railroad connections in Estonia, such as Tallinn–Narva railway, which is long main connection to St. Petersburg. The most important highways in Estonia, in other hand, includes Narva Highway (E20), Tartu Highway (E263) and Pärnu Highway (E67).


title: Estonia

text: The Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport in Tallinn is the largest airport in Estonia and serves as a hub for the national airline Nordica, as well as the secondary hub for AirBaltic and LOT Polish Airlines. Total passengers using the airport has increased on average by 14.2% annually since 1998. On 16 November 2012 Tallinn Airport has reached two million passenger landmark for the first time in its history.


title: Estonia

text: Although Estonia is in general resource-poor, the land still offers a large variety of smaller resources. The country has large oil shale and limestone deposits, along with forests that cover 48% of the land. In addition to oil shale and limestone, Estonia also has large reserves of phosphorite, pitchblende, and granite that currently are not mined, or not mined extensively.


title: Estonia

text: Significant quantities of rare-earth oxides are found in tailings accumulated from 50 years of uranium ore, shale and loparite mining at Sillamäe. Because of the rising prices of rare earths, extraction of these oxides has become economically viable. The country currently exports around 3000 tonnes per annum, representing around 2% of world production.


title: Estonia

text: Since 2008, public debate has discussed whether Estonia should build a nuclear power plant to secure energy production after closure of old units in the Narva Power Plants, if they are not reconstructed by 2016.


title: Estonia

text: Food, construction, and electronic industries are currently among the most important branches of Estonia's industry. In 2007, the construction industry employed more than 80,000 people, around 12% of the entire country's workforce. Another important industrial sector is the machinery and chemical industry, which is mainly located in Ida-Viru county and around Tallinn.


title: Estonia

text: The oil shale-based mining industry, also concentrated in East Estonia, produces around 90% of the entire country's electricity. Although the number of pollutants emitted has been falling since the 1980s, the air is still contaminated with sulphur dioxide from the mining industry the Soviet Union rapidly developed in the early 1950s. In some areas, coastal seawater is polluted, mainly around the Sillamäe industrial complex.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia is dependent on other countries for energy. In recent years, many local and foreign companies have been investing in renewable energy sources. Wind power has been increasing steadily in Estonia and the total current amount of energy produced from wind is nearly 60 MW; another roughly 399 MW worth of projects are currently being developed and more than 2800 MW being proposed in the Lake Peipus area and coastal areas of Hiiumaa.


title: Estonia

text: Currently, there are plans to renovate some older units of the Narva Power Plants, establish new power stations, and provide higher efficiency in oil shale-based energy production. Estonia liberalised 35% of its electricity market in April 2010; the electricity market as whole was to be liberalised by 2013.


title: Estonia

text: Together with Lithuania, Poland, and Latvia, the country considered participating in constructing the Visaginas nuclear power plant in Lithuania to replace the Ignalina nuclear plant. However, due to the slow pace of the project and problems with the nuclear sector (like the Fukushima disaster and bad example of Olkiluoto plant), Eesti Energia shifted its main focus to shale oil production, seen as far more profitable.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia has a strong information technology sector, partly owing to the Tiigrihüpe project undertaken in the mid-1990s, and has been mentioned as the most "wired" and advanced country in Europe in the terms of e-Government of Estonia. The 2014 e-residency program began offering those services to non-residents in Estonia.


title: Estonia

text: Skype was written by Estonia-based developers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, who had also originally developed Kazaa. Other notable startups that originated from Estonia include Bolt, GrabCAD, Fortumo and Wise (formerly known as TransferWise). It has been reported that Estonia has the highest startups per person ratio in the world. As of January 2022, there are 1,291 startups from Estonia, seven of which are unicorns, equalling nearly 1 startup per 1,000 Estonians.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia has had a market economy since the end of the 1990s and one of the highest per capita income levels in Eastern Europe. Proximity to the Scandinavian and Finnish markets, its location between the East and West, competitive cost structure and a highly skilled labour force have been the major Estonian comparative advantages in the beginning of the 2000s (decade). As the largest city, Tallinn has emerged as a financial centre and the Tallinn Stock Exchange joined recently with the OMX system. Several cryptocurrency trading platforms are officially recognised by the government, such as CoinMetro. The current government has pursued tight fiscal policies, resulting in balanced budgets and low public debt.


title: Estonia

text: In 2007, however, a large current account deficit and rising inflation put pressure on Estonia's currency, which was pegged to the Euro, highlighting the need for growth in export-generating industries.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia exports mainly machinery and equipment, wood and paper, textiles, food products, furniture, and metals and chemical products. Estonia also exports 1.562 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually. At the same time Estonia imports machinery and equipment, chemical products, textiles, food products and transportation equipment. Estonia imports 200 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually.


title: Estonia

text: Between 2007 and 2013, Estonia received 53.3 billion kroons (3.4 billion euros) from various European Union Structural Funds as direct supports, creating the largest foreign investments into Estonia. Majority of the European Union financial aid will be invested into the following fields: energy economies, entrepreneurship, administrative capability, education, information society, environment protection, regional and local development, research and development activities, healthcare and welfare, transportation and labour market. Main sources of foreign direct investments to Estonia are Sweden and Finland ( 48.3%).


title: Estonia

text: Before World War II, ethnic Estonians made up 88% of the population, with national minorities constituting the remaining 12%. The largest minority groups in 1934 were Russians, Germans, Swedes, Latvians, Jews, Poles, and Finns.


title: Estonia

text: The share of Baltic Germans in Estonia had fallen from 5.3% (~46,700) in 1881 to 1.3% (16,346) by 1934, mainly due to emigration to Germany in the light of general Russification at the end of the 19th century and the independence of Estonia in the 20th century.


title: Estonia

text: Between 1945 and 1989, the share of ethnic Estonians in the population resident within the currently defined boundaries of Estonia dropped to 61%, caused primarily by the Soviet occupation and programme promoting mass immigration of urban industrial workers from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, as well as by wartime emigration and Joseph Stalin's mass deportations and executions. By 1989, minorities constituted more than one-third of the population, as the number of non-Estonians had grown almost fivefold.


title: Estonia

text: At the end of the 1980s, Estonians perceived their demographic change as a national catastrophe. This was a result of the migration policies essential to the Soviet Nationalisation Programme aiming to russify Estonia – administrative and military immigration of non-Estonians from the USSR coupled with the deportation of Estonians to the USSR. In the decade after the reconstitution of independence, large-scale emigration by ethnic Russians and the removal of the Russian military bases in 1994 caused the proportion of ethnic Estonians in Estonia to increase from 61% to 69% in 2006.


title: Estonia

text: Modern Estonia is a fairly ethnically homogeneous country, but this historical homogeneity is a feature of 13 of the country's 15 "maakond" (counties). The mostly Russian-speaking immigrant population is concentrated in urban areas which administratively belong to two counties. Thus 13 of Estonia's 15 counties are over 80% ethnic Estonian, the most homogeneous being Hiiumaa, where Estonians account for 98.4% of the population. In the counties of Harju (including the capital city Tallinn) and Ida-Viru, however, ethnic Estonians make up 60% and 20% of the population, respectively. The ethnic Russian immigrant minority makes up about 24% of the country's total population now, but accounts for 35% of the population in Harju county and for a near 70% majority in Ida-Viru county.


title: Estonia

text: The Estonian Cultural Autonomy law that was passed in 1925 was unique in Europe at that time. Cultural autonomies could be granted to minorities numbering more than 3,000 people with longstanding ties to the Republic of Estonia. Before the Soviet occupation, the Germans and Jewish minorities managed to elect a cultural council. The Law on Cultural Autonomy for National Minorities was reinstated in 1993. Historically, large parts of Estonia's northwestern coast and islands have been populated by the indigenous ethnic group of "rannarootslased" ("Coastal Swedes").


title: Estonia

text: In recent years the number of Swedish residents in Estonia has risen again, numbering in 2008 almost 500 people, owing to the property reforms at the beginning of the 1990s. In 2004, the Ingrian Finnish minority in Estonia elected a cultural council and was granted cultural autonomy. The Estonian Swedes minority similarly received cultural autonomy in 2007.


title: Estonia

text: During the Russo-Ukrainian war of 2022, tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Estonia.


title: Estonia

text: Estonian society has undergone considerable changes over the last twenty years, one of the most notable being the increasing level of stratification, and the distribution of family income. The Gini coefficient has held steadily higher than the European Union average (31 in 2009), although it has clearly dropped. The registered unemployment rate in January 2021 was 6.9%.


title: Estonia

text: Modern Estonia is a multinational country in which 109 languages are spoken, according to a 2000 census. 67.3% of Estonian citizens speak Estonian as their native language, 29.7% Russian, and 3% speak other languages. , 84.1% of Estonian residents are Estonian citizens, 8.6% are citizens of other countries and 7.3% are "citizens with undetermined citizenship". Since 1992, roughly 140,000 people have acquired Estonian citizenship by passing naturalisation exams. Estonia has also accepted quota refugees under the migrant plan agreed upon by EU member states in 2015.


title: Estonia

text: Ethnic distribution in Estonia is very homogeneous at a county level; in most counties, over 90% of residents are ethnic Estonians. In contrast, in the capital city Tallinn and the urban areas of Ida-Viru county (which neighbours Russia) ethnic Estonians account for around 60% of the population and the remainder is mostly composed of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, who mostly arrived in Estonia during the period of Soviet occupation (1944–1991), however now also includes over 30,000 (ca 3% of total population) war refugees from Ukraine who have settled in Estonia in 2022.


title: Estonia

text: The 2008 United Nations Human Rights Council report called "extremely credible" the description of the citizenship policy of Estonia as "discriminatory". According to surveys, only 5% of the Russian community have considered returning to Russia in the near future. Estonian Russians have developed their own identity – more than half of the respondents recognized that Estonian Russians differ noticeably from the Russians in Russia. When compared with results from a 2000 survey, Russians had a more positive attitude toward the future.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia was the first post-Soviet republic to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples, with a law approved in October 2014. Political disagreements delayed adoption of the necessary implementing legislation, and same-sex couples were not able to sign cohabitation agreements until January 1, 2016.


title: Estonia

text: Tallinn is the capital and the largest city of Estonia, and lies on the northern coast of Estonia, along the Gulf of Finland. There are 33 cities and several town-parish towns in the country. In total, there are 47 "linn"a, with "linn" in English meaning both "cities" and "towns". More than 70% of the population lives in towns.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia has a diverse religious history, but in recent years it has become increasingly secular, with either a plurality or a majority of the population declaring themselves nonreligious in recent censuses, followed by those who identify as religiously "undeclared". The largest minority groups are the various Christian denominations, principally Lutheran and Orthodox Christians, with very small numbers of adherents in non-Christian faiths, namely Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Other polls suggest the country is broadly split between Christians and the non-religious / religiously undeclared.


title: Estonia

text: In ancient Estonia, prior to Christianization and according to Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Tharapita was the predominant deity for the Oeselians.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia was Christianised by the Catholic Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. The Protestant Reformation led to the establishment of the Lutheran church in 1686. Before the Second World War, Estonia was approximately 80% Protestant, overwhelmingly Lutheran, followed by Calvinism and other Protestant branches. Many Estonians profess not to be particularly religious because religion through the 19th century was associated with German feudal rule. There has historically been a small but noticeable minority of Russian Old-believers near the Lake Peipus area in Tartu county.


title: Estonia

text: Today, Estonia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and individual rights to privacy of belief and religion. According to the Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Estonia is one of the least religious countries in the world, with 75.7% of the population claiming to be irreligious. The Eurobarometer Poll 2005 found that only 16% of Estonians profess a belief in a god, the lowest belief of all countries studied. A 2009 Gallup poll found similar results, with only 16% of Estonians describing religion as "important" in their daily lives, making Estonia the most irreligious of the nations surveyed.


title: Estonia

text: New polls about religiosity in the European Union in 2012 by Eurobarometer found that Christianity is the largest religion in Estonia accounting for 45% of Estonians. Eastern Orthodox are the largest Christian group in Estonia, accounting for 17% of Estonia citizens, while Protestants make up 6%, and Other Christian make up 22%. Non believer/Agnostic account 22%, Atheist accounts for 15%, and undeclared accounts for 15%.


title: Estonia

text: The most recent Pew Research Center, found that in 2015, 51% of the population of Estonia declared itself Christian, 45% religiously unaffiliated—a category which includes atheists, agnostics and those who describe their religion as "nothing in particular", while 2% belonged to other faiths. The Christians divided between 25% Eastern Orthodox, 20% Lutherans, 5% other Christians and 1% Roman Catholic. While the religiously unaffiliated divided between 9% as atheists, 1% as agnostics and 35% as Nothing in Particular.


title: Estonia

text: Traditionally, the largest religious denomination in the country was Lutheranism, which was adhered to by 160,000 Estonians (or 13% of the population) according to the 2000 census, principally ethnic Estonians. According to the Lutheran World Federation, the historic Lutheran denomination has 180,000 registered members. Other organisations, such as the World Council of Churches, report that there are as many as 265,700 Estonian Lutherans. Additionally, there are between 8,000 and 9,000 members abroad.


title: Estonia

text: However, the 2011 census indicated that Eastern Orthodoxy had surpassed Lutheranism, accounting for 16.5% of the population (176,773 people).


title: Estonia

text: Eastern Orthodoxy is practised chiefly by the Russian minority. The Estonian Orthodox Church, affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, is the primary Orthodox denomination. The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, under the Greek-Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, claims another 20,000 members.


title: Estonia

text: Roman Catholics are a small minority in Estonia. They are organised under the Latin Apostolic Administration of Estonia.


title: Estonia

text: According to the census of 2000 (data in table to the right), there were about 1,000 adherents of the Taara faith or Maausk in Estonia (see Maavalla Koda). The Jewish community has an estimated population of about 1,900 (see History of the Jews in Estonia), and the Muslim community numbers just over 1,400. Around 68,000 people consider themselves atheists.


title: Estonia

text: The official language, Estonian is a Finnic language, and is conventionally classified as a member of the Uralic language family. Estonian is closely related to Finnish and one of the few languages of Europe that is not considered Indo-European. Unlike Estonian and Finnish, the languages of their nearest geographical neighbouring countries, Swedish, Latvian, and Russian, are all Indo-European languages.


title: Estonia

text: Although the Estonian and Germanic languages are of different origins, one can identify many similar words in Estonian and German. This is primarily because the Estonian language has borrowed nearly one-third of its vocabulary from Germanic languages, mainly from Low Saxon (Middle Low German) during the period of , and High German (including standard German). The percentage of Low Saxon and High German loanwords can be estimated at 22–25 percent, with Low Saxon making up about 15 percent.


title: Estonia

text: South Estonian languages are spoken by 100,000 people and include the dialects of Võro and Seto. The languages are spoken in South-Eastern Estonia, are genealogically distinct from northern Estonian: but are traditionally and officially considered as dialects and "regional forms of the Estonian language", not separate language(s).


title: Estonia

text: Russian is the most spoken minority language in the country. There are towns in Estonia with large concentrations of Russian speakers and there are towns where Estonian speakers are in the minority (especially in the northeast, e.g. Narva). Russian is spoken as a secondary language by forty- to seventy-year-old ethnic Estonians, because Russian was the unofficial language of the Estonian SSR from 1944 to 1990 and was taught as a compulsory second language during the Soviet era. In the period between 1990 and 1995, the Russian language was granted an official special status according to Estonian language laws. In 1995 it lost its official status. In 1998, most first- and second-generation industrial immigrants from the former Soviet Union (mainly the Russian SFSR) did not speak Estonian. However, by 2010, 64.1% of non-ethnic Estonians spoke Estonian. The latter, mostly Russian-speaking ethnic minorities, reside predominantly in the capital city of Tallinn and the industrial urban areas in Ida-Viru county.


title: Estonia

text: From the 13th to the 20th century, there were Swedish-speaking communities in Estonia, particularly in the coastal areas and on the islands (e.g., Hiiumaa, Vormsi, Ruhnu; in Swedish, known as Dagö, Ormsö, Runö, respectively) along the Baltic sea, communities which today have almost disappeared.


title: Estonia

text: From 1918 to 1940, when Estonia was independent, the small Swedish community was well treated. Municipalities with a Swedish majority, mainly found along the coast, used Swedish as the administrative language and Swedish-Estonian culture saw an upswing. However, most Swedish-speaking people fled to Sweden before the end of World War II, before the invasion of Estonia by the Soviet army in 1944. Only a handful of older speakers remain.


title: Estonia

text: Apart from many other areas the influence of Swedish is distinct in the Noarootsi Parish of Lääne county where there are many villages with bilingual Estonian and/or Swedish names and street signs.


title: Estonia

text: The most common foreign languages learned by Estonian students are English, Russian, German, and French. Other popular languages include Finnish, Spanish, and Swedish.


title: Estonia

text: The history of formal education in Estonia dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries when the first monastic and cathedral schools were founded. The first primer in the Estonian language was published in 1575. The oldest university is the University of Tartu, established by the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf in 1632. In 1919, university courses were first taught in the Estonian language.


title: Estonia

text: Today's education in Estonia is divided into general, vocational, and hobby. The education system is based on four levels: pre-school, basic, secondary, and higher education. A wide network of schools and supporting educational institutions have been established. The Estonian education system consists of state, municipal, public, and private institutions. There are currently 589 schools in Estonia.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia started connecting all its schools to the internet very early. Tiigrihüpe (Estonian for Tiger Leap) was a project undertaken by the state to heavily invest in the development and expansion of computer and network infrastructure in Estonia, with a particular emphasis on education.


title: Estonia

text: In the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, Estonia's students rank 1st in Europe. In the world, Estonia's students rank 5th in reading, 8th in mathematics and 4th in sciences. Additionally, around 89% of Estonian adults aged 25–64 have earned the equivalent of a high-school degree, one of the highest rates in the industrialised world.


title: Estonia

text: Academic higher education in Estonia is divided into three levels: bachelor's, master's, and doctoral studies. In some specialties (basic medical studies, veterinary, pharmacy, dentistry, architect-engineer, and a classroom teacher programme) the bachelor's and master's levels are integrated into one unit. Estonian public universities have significantly more autonomy than applied higher education institutions. In addition to organising the academic life of the university, universities can create new curricula, establish admission terms and conditions, approve the budget, approve the development plan, elect the rector, and make restricted decisions in matters concerning assets. Estonia has a moderate number of public and private universities. The largest public universities are the University of Tartu, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn University, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonian Academy of Arts; the largest private university is Estonian Business School.


title: Estonia

text: The Estonian Academy of Sciences is the national academy of science. The strongest public non-profit research institute that carries out fundamental and applied research is the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics (NICPB; Estonian KBFI). The first computer centres were established in the late 1950s in Tartu and Tallinn. Estonian specialists contributed in the development of software engineering standards for ministries of the Soviet Union during the 1980s. , Estonia spends around 1.5% of its GDP on Research and Development, compared to an EU average of around 2.0%. Estonia was ranked 18th in the Global Innovation Index in 2022.


title: Estonia

text: Some of the best-known scientists related to Estonia include astronomers Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, Ernst Öpik and Jaan Einasto, biologist Karl Ernst von Baer, Jakob von Uexküll, chemists Wilhelm Ostwald and Carl Schmidt, economist Ragnar Nurkse, mathematician Edgar Krahn, medical researchers Ludvig Puusepp and Nikolay Pirogov, physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck, political scientist Rein Taagepera, psychologist Endel Tulving and Risto Näätänen, semiotician Juri Lotman.


title: Estonia

text: According to "New Scientist", Estonia will be the first nation to provide personal genetic information service sponsored by the state. They aim to minimise and prevent future ailments for those whose genes make them extra prone to conditions like adult-onset diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The government plans to provide lifestyle advice based on the DNA for 100,000 of its 1.3 million citizens.


title: Estonia

text: The culture of Estonia incorporates indigenous heritage, as represented by the Estonian language and the sauna, with mainstream Nordic and European cultural aspects. Because of its history and geography, Estonia's culture has been influenced by the traditions of the adjacent area's various Finnic, Baltic, Slavic and Germanic peoples as well as the cultural developments in the former dominant powers Germany, Sweden and Russia, for this reason it aspires more to be considered a Nordic state.


title: Estonia

text: Today, Estonian society encourages liberty and liberalism, with a popular commitment to the ideals of the limited government, discouraging centralised power and corruption. The Protestant work ethic remains a significant cultural staple, and free education is a highly prized institution. As the mainstream culture in the Nordic countries, Estonian culture can be seen to build upon the ascetic environmental realities and traditional livelihoods, a heritage of comparatively widespread egalitarianism out of practical reasons (see: Everyman's right and universal suffrage), and the ideals of closeness to nature and self-sufficiency (see: summer cottage).


title: Estonia

text: The Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonian: "Eesti Kunstiakadeemia", EKA) is providing higher education in art, design, architecture, media, art history and conservation while the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy has an approach to popularise native culture through such curricula as native construction, native blacksmithing, native textile design, traditional handicraft and traditional music, but also jazz and church music. In 2010, there were 245 museums in Estonia whose combined collections contain more than 10 million objects.


title: Estonia

text: The earliest mention of Estonian singing dates back to Saxo Grammaticus "Gesta Danorum" (ca. 1179). Saxo speaks of Estonian warriors who sang at night while waiting for a battle. The older folk songs are also referred to as "regilaulud", songs in the traditional "regivärss" poetic metre shared by all Baltic Finns. Runic singing was widespread among Estonians until the 18th century, when rhythmic folk songs began to replace them.


title: Estonia

text: Traditional wind instruments derived from those used by shepherds were once widespread, and are now becoming more commonly played once more. Other instruments, including the fiddle, zither, concertina, and accordion are used to play polka or other dance music. The kannel is a native instrument that is again becoming more popular in Estonia. A Native Music Preserving Centre was opened in 2008 in Viljandi.


title: Estonia

text: The tradition of Estonian Song Festivals ("Laulupidu") started at the height of the Estonian national awakening in 1869. Today, it is one of the largest amateur choral events in the world. In 2004, about 100,000 people participated in the Song Festival. Since 1928, the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds ("Lauluväljak") have hosted the event every five years in July. The last festival took place in July 2019. In addition, Youth Song Festivals are also held every four or five years, the latest taking place in 2017.


title: Estonia

text: Professional Estonian musicians and composers such as Aleksander Eduard Thomson, Rudolf Tobias, Miina Härma, Mart Saar, Artur Kapp, Juhan Aavik, Aleksander Kunileid, Artur Lemba and Heino Eller emerged in the late 19th century. Currently, the most well-known Estonian composers are Arvo Pärt, Eduard Tubin, and Veljo Tormis. In 2014, Arvo Pärt was the world's most performed living composer for the fourth year in a row.


title: Estonia

text: In popular music, Estonian artist Kerli Kõiv has become popular in Europe, also gaining in popularity in North America. She provided music for the 2010 Disney film "Alice in Wonderland" and the television series "Smallville" in the United States of America.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. In 2002, Estonia hosted the event. Maarja-Liis Ilus competed for Estonia in 1996 and 1997, while Eda-Ines Etti, Koit Toome and Evelin Samuel partly owe their popularity to the song contest. Lenna Kuurmaa gained recognition in Europe performing with her band Vanilla Ninja. "Rändajad" by Urban Symphony was the first song in Estonian to chart in the UK, Belgium and Switzerland.


title: Estonia

text: Estonian literature refers to literature written in the Estonian language (ca. 1 million speakers). The domination of Estonia after the Northern Crusades, from the 13th century to 1918 by Germany, Sweden, and Russia, resulted in few early literary works being written in the Estonian language. The oldest records of written Estonian date from the 13th century. "Originates Livoniae" in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia contains Estonian place names, words and sentence fragments. The "Liber Census Daniae" (1241) contains Estonian place and family names. Many folk tales are told to this day and some have been written down and translated to make them accessible to an international readership. "ABD ehk Luggemise-Ramat Lastele", an Estonian-language alphabet book by Otto Wilhelm Masing, was published in 1795.


title: Estonia

text: The cultural stratum of Estonian was originally characterised by a largely lyrical form of folk poetry based on syllabic quantity. Apart from a few, albeit remarkable, exceptions, this archaic form has not been widely employed in later times. One of the most outstanding achievements in the field is the national epic "Kalevipoeg". At a professional level, the traditional folk song reached its new heyday during the last quarter of the 20th century, primarily thanks to the work of composer Veljo Tormis.


title: Estonia

text: Oskar Luts was the most prominent prose writer of early Estonian literature and is still widely read today, particularly his lyrical school novel "Kevade" (Spring). A. H. Tammsaare's social epic and psychological realist pentalogy, "Truth and Justice", captured the evolution of Estonian society from a poor farmer community to an independent nation. In modern times, Jaan Kross and Jaan Kaplinski are Estonia's best-known and most-translated writers. Among the most popular writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries are Tõnu Õnnepalu and Andrus Kivirähk, who uses elements of Estonian folklore and mythology, deforming them into the absurd and grotesque.


title: Estonia

text: The cinema of Estonia started in 1908 with the production of a newsreel about Swedish King Gustav V's visit to Tallinn. The first public TV broadcast in Estonia was in July 1955. Regular, live radio broadcasts began in December 1926. Deregulation in the field of electronic media has brought radical changes compared to the beginning of the 1990s. The first licences for private TV broadcasters were issued in 1992. The first private radio station went on the air in 1990.


title: Estonia

text: The most internationally known Estonian films include "Those Old Love Letters", "The Heart of the Bear", "Names in Marble", "The Singing Revolution", "Autumn Ball", "1944", and "The Fencer". Internationally known Estonian film actors include Lembit Ulfsak, Jaan Tätte, and Elmo Nüganen, who also known as a film director.


title: Estonia

text: Estonian media sector has a large number of weekly newspapers and magazines, and Estonians have a choice of 9 domestic TV channels and a host of radio stations. Estonia has been internationally recognised for its high rate of press freedom, having been ranked 3rd in the 2012 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia has two news agencies. The Baltic News Service (BNS), founded in 1990, is a private regional news agency covering Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The ETV24 is an agency owned by "Eesti Rahvusringhääling" which is a publicly funded radio and television organisation created on 30 June 2007 to take over the functions of the formerly separate Eesti Raadio and Eesti Televisioon under the terms of the Estonian National Broadcasting Act.


title: Estonia

text: The architectural history of Estonia mainly reflects its contemporary development in northern Europe. Worth mentioning is especially the architectural ensemble that makes out the medieval old town of Tallinn, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In addition, the country has several unique, more or less preserved hill forts dating from pre-Christian times, a large number of still intact medieval castles and churches, while the countryside is still shaped by the presence of a vast number of wooden manor houses from earlier centuries.


title: Estonia

text: The Estonian National Day is the Independence Day celebrated on 24 February, the day the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued. , there are 12 public holidays (which come with a day off) and 12 national holidays celebrated annually.


title: Estonia

text: Historically, the cuisine of Estonia has been dependent on seasons and the simple food from the local farms and the sea. Today, it also includes many "global" foods. The most typical foods in modern Estonia are black bread, pork, potatoes, and dairy products. Traditionally in summer and spring, Estonians like to eat everything fresh – berries, herbs, vegetables, and everything else that comes straight from the garden. Hunting and fishing have also been very common, although currently hunting and fishing are enjoyed mostly as hobbies. Today, it is also very popular to grill outside in summer.


title: Estonia

text: A cardamom-spiced bread roll with almond paste "vastlakukkel" is a traditional Estonian sweet roll, especially popular from Christmas to Easter.


title: Estonia

text: Traditionally in winter, jams, preserves, and pickles are brought to the table. Gathering and preserving fruits, mushrooms, and vegetables for winter has always been popular, but today gathering and preserving is becoming less common because everything can be bought from stores. However, preparing food for winter is still very popular in the countryside.


title: Estonia

text: Estonia first competed as an independent nation at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Estonian athletes took part in the 1952–1988 Olympic Games under the Soviet flag, as the country had been occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. The 1980 Summer Olympics Sailing regatta was held in the capital city Tallinn. After regaining independence in 1991, Estonia has participated in all Olympics. Estonia has won most of its medals in athletics, weightlifting, wrestling, and cross-country skiing. Estonia has been one of the most successful nations at the Olympics in terms of medals won per capita. Estonia's best results were being ranked 13th in the total medals' table at the 1936 Summer Olympics, and 12th at the 2006 Winter Olympics.


title: Estonia

text: Kiiking, a relatively new sport, was invented in 1993 by Ado Kosk in Estonia. Kiiking involves a modified swing in which the rider of the swing tries to go around 360 degrees.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts. He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. He also played a pivotal organisational, technical, and political role in India's "Pokhran-II" nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam was elected as the 11th president of India in 2002 with the support of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the then-opposition Indian National Congress. Widely referred to as the "People's President", he returned to his civilian life of education, writing and public service after a single term. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83. Thousands, including national-level dignitaries, attended the funeral ceremony held in his hometown of Rameswaram, where he was buried with full state honours.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931, to a Tamil Muslim family in the pilgrimage centre of Rameswaram on Pamban Island, then in the Madras Presidency and now in the State of Tamil Nadu. His father Jainulabdeen Marakayar was a boat owner and imam of a local mosque; his mother Ashiamma was a housewife. His father owned a ferry that took Hindu pilgrims back and forth between Rameswaram and the now uninhabited Dhanushkodi. Kalam was the youngest of four brothers and one sister in his family. His ancestors had been wealthy Marakayar traders and landowners, with numerous properties and large tracts of land. Marakayar are a Muslim ethnic group found in coastal Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka who claim descent from Arab traders and local women. The family business had involved trading groceries between the mainland and the island and to and from Sri Lanka, as well as ferrying pilgrims between the mainland and Pamban. With the opening of the Pamban Bridge to the mainland in 1914, however, the businesses failed and the family fortune and properties were lost by the 1920s, apart from the ancestral home. The family was poverty-stricken by the time Kalam was born. As a young boy he had to sell newspapers to add to the family's meager income.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In his school years, Kalam had average grades but was described as a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn. He spent hours on his studies, especially mathematics. After completing his education at the Schwartz Higher Secondary School, Ramanathapuram, Kalam went on to attend Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, then affiliated with the University of Madras, from where he graduated in physics in 1954.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: He moved to Madras in 1955 to study aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology. While Kalam was working on a senior class project, the Dean was dissatisfied with his lack of progress and threatened to revoke his scholarship unless the project was finished within the next three days. Kalam met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who later said to him, "I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline." He narrowly missed achieving his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, as he placed ninth in qualifiers, and only eight positions were available in the IAF.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: After graduating from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1960, Kalam joined the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (by Press Information Bureau, Government of India) as a scientist after becoming a member of the Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS). He started his career by designing a small hovercraft, but remained unconvinced by his choice of a job at DRDO. Kalam was also part of the INCOSPAR committee working under Vikram Sarabhai, the renowned space scientist. In 1969, Kalam was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) where he was the project director of India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the "Rohini" satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980; Kalam had first started work on an expandable rocket project independently at DRDO in 1965. In 1969, Kalam received the government's approval and expanded the programme to include more engineers.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In 1963 to 1964, he visited NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Wallops Flight Facility. Between the 1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and SLV-III projects, both of which proved to be successful.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam was invited by Raja Ramanna to witness the country's first nuclear test Smiling Buddha as the representative of TBRL, even though he had not participated in its development. In the 1970s, Kalam also directed two projects, "Project Devil" and "Project Valiant", which sought to develop ballistic missiles from the technology of the successful SLV programme. Despite the disapproval of the Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi allotted secret funds for these aerospace projects through her discretionary powers under Kalam's directorship. Kalam played an integral role convincing the Union Cabinet to conceal the true nature of these classified aerospace projects.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: His research and educational leadership brought him great laurels and prestige in the 1980s, which prompted the government to initiate an advanced missile programme under his directorship. Kalam and Dr V S Arunachalam, metallurgist and scientific adviser to the Defence Minister, worked on the suggestion by the then Defence Minister, R. Venkataraman on a proposal for simultaneous development of a quiver of missiles instead of taking planned missiles one after another. R Venkatraman was instrumental in getting the cabinet approval for allocating 3.88 billion for the mission, named Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) and appointed Kalam as the chief executive. Kalam played a major part in developing many missiles under the mission including Agni, an intermediate range ballistic missile and Prithvi, the tactical surface-to-surface missile, although the projects have been criticised for mismanagement and cost and time overruns.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and Secretary of the Defence Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999. The "Pokhran-II" nuclear tests were conducted during this period in which he played an intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with Rajagopala Chidambaram, during the testing phase. Media coverage of Kalam during this period made him the country's best known nuclear scientist. However, the director of the site test, K Santhanam, said that the thermonuclear bomb had been a "fizzle" and criticised Kalam for issuing an incorrect report. Both Kalam and Chidambaram dismissed the claims.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In 1998, along with cardiologist Soma Raju, Kalam developed a low cost coronary stent, named the "Kalam-Raju Stent". In 2012, the duo designed a rugged tablet computer for health care in rural areas, which was named the "Kalam-Raju Tablet".


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam served as the 11th president of India, succeeding K. R. Narayanan. He won the 2002 presidential election with an electoral vote of 922,884, surpassing the 107,366 votes won by Lakshmi Sahgal. His term lasted from 25 July 2002, to 25 July 2007.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: On 10 June 2002, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which was in power at the time, expressed that they would nominate Kalam for the post of President, and both the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party backed his candidacy. After the Samajwadi Party announced its support for Kalam, Narayanan chose not to seek a second term in office, leaving the field clear. Kalam said of the announcement of his candidature:


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: On 18 June, Kalam filed his nomination papers in the Indian Parliament, accompanied by Vajpayee and his senior Cabinet colleagues.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: The polling for the presidential election began on 15 July 2002, in Parliament and the state assemblies, with the media claiming that the election was a one-sided affair and Kalam's victory was a foregone conclusion; the count was held on 18 July. Kalam became the 11th president of the Republic of India in an easy victory, and moved into the Rashtrapati Bhavan after he was sworn in on 25 July. Kalam was the third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, before becoming the President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954) and Zakir Hussain (1963) were the earlier recipients of Bharat Ratna who later became the President of India. He was also the first scientist and the first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhawan.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: During his term as president, he was affectionately known as the "People's President", saying that signing the Office of Profit Bill was the toughest decision he had taken during his tenure. Kalam was criticised for his inaction in deciding the fate of 20 out of the 21 mercy petitions submitted to him during his tenure. Article 72 of the Constitution of India empowers the President of India to grant pardons, and suspend or commute the death sentence of convicts on death row. Kalam acted on only one mercy plea in his five-year tenure as president, rejecting the plea of rapist Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was later hanged. Perhaps the most notable plea was from Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri terrorist who was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India in 2004. While the sentence was scheduled to be carried out on 20 October 2006, the pending action on his mercy plea resulted in him remaining on death row. He also took the controversial decision to impose President's Rule in Bihar in 2005.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In September 2003, in an interactive session in PGI Chandigarh, Kalam supported the need of Uniform Civil Code in India, keeping in view the population of the country.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: At the end of his term, on 20 June 2007, Kalam expressed his willingness to consider a second term in office provided there was certainty about his victory in the 2007 presidential election. However, two days later, he decided not to contest the Presidential election again stating that he wanted to avoid involving Rashtrapati Bhavan from any political processes. He Was prosped by third front named "United National Progressive Alliance" leader J. Jayalalithaa and coordinator Chandrababu Naidu other leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Om Prakash Chautala,But He did not have the support of the left parties, Shiv Sena and UPA constituents, to receive a renewed mandate.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Nearing the expiry of the term of the 12th President Pratibha Patil on 24 July 2012, media reports in April claimed that Kalam was likely to be nominated for his second term. After the reports, social networking sites witnessed a number of people supporting his candidature. The BJP potentially backed his nomination, saying that the party would lend their support if the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Indian National Congress proposed him for the 2012 presidential election. A month ahead of the election, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee also expressed their support for Kalam. Days afterwards, Mulayam Singh Yadav backed out, leaving Mamata Banerjee as the solitary supporter. On 18 June 2012, Kalam declined to contest the 2012 presidential poll. He said of his decision not to do so:


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: After leaving office, Kalam became a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and the Indian Institute of Management Indore; an honorary fellow of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram; professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna University; and an adjunct at many other academic and research institutions across India. He taught information technology at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, and technology at Banaras Hindu University and Anna University.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In 2011, Kalam was criticised by civil groups over his stand on the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant; he supported the establishment of the nuclear power plant and was accused of not speaking with the local people. The protesters were hostile to his visit as they saw him as a pro-nuclear scientist and were unimpressed by the assurances he provided regarding the safety features of the plant.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In May 2012, Kalam launched a programme for the youth of India called the "What Can I Give Movement", with a central theme of defeating corruption.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: On 27 July 2015, Kalam travelled to Shillong to deliver a lecture on "Creating a Livable Planet Earth" at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong. While climbing a flight of stairs, he experienced some discomfort, but was able to enter the auditorium after a brief rest. At around 6:35 p.m. IST, only five minutes into his lecture, he collapsed. He was rushed to the nearby Bethany Hospital in a critical condition; upon arrival, he lacked a pulse or any other signs of life. Despite being placed in the intensive care unit, Kalam was confirmed dead of a sudden cardiac arrest at 7:45p.m. IST. His last words, to his aide Srijan Pal Singh, were reportedly: "Funny guy! Are you doing well?"


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Following his death, Kalam's body was airlifted in an Indian Air Force helicopter from Shillong to Guwahati, from where it was flown to New Delhi on the morning of 28 July in an air force C-130J Hercules. The flight landed at Palam Air Base that afternoon and was received by the President, the vice-president, the Prime Minister, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, and the three service chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces, who laid wreaths on Kalam's body. His body was then placed on a gun carriage draped with the Indian flag and taken to his Delhi residence at 10 Rajaji Marg; there, the public and numerous dignitaries paid homage, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: On the morning of 29 July, Kalam's body, wrapped in the Indian flag, was taken to Palam Air Base and flown to Madurai in an air force C-130J aircraft, arriving at Madurai Airport that afternoon. His body was received at the airport by the three service chiefs and national and state dignitaries, including cabinet ministers Manohar Parrikar, Venkaiah Naidu, Pon Radhakrishnan and the governors of Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya, K Rosaiah and V. Shanmuganathan. After a brief ceremony, Kalam's body was flown by air force helicopter to the town of Mandapam, from where it was taken in an army truck to his hometown of Rameswaram. Upon arriving at Rameswaram, his body was displayed in an open area in front of the local bus station to allow the public to pay their final respects until 8p.m. that evening.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: On 30 July 2015, the former president was laid to rest at Rameswaram's Pei Karumbu Ground with full state honours. Over 350,000 people attended the last rites, including the Prime Minister, the governor of Tamil Nadu and the chief ministers of Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: India reacted to Kalam's death with an outpouring of grief; numerous tributes were paid to the former president across the nation and on social media. The Government of India declared a seven-day state mourning period as a mark of respect. President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-president Hamid Ansari, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and other leaders condoled the former President's demise. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "Kalam's death is a great loss to the scientific community. He took India to great heights. He showed the way." Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who had served as prime minister under Kalam, said, "our country has lost a great human being who made phenomenal contributions to the promotion of self-reliance in defence technologies. I worked very closely with Dr. Kalam as prime minister and I greatly benefited from his advice as president of our country. His life and work will be remembered for generations to come." ISRO chairman A. S. Kiran Kumar called his former colleague "a great personality and a gentleman", while former chairman G. Madhavan Nair described Kalam as "a global leader" for whom "the downtrodden and poor people were his priority. He always had a passion to convey what is in his mind to the young generation", adding that his death left a vacuum which none could fill.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: South Asian leaders expressed condolences and lauded the late statesman. The Bhutanese government ordered the country's flags to fly at half-staff to mourn Kalam's death and lit 1000 butter lamps in homage. Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay expressed deep sadness, saying Kalam "was a leader greatly admired by all people, especially the youth of India who have referred to him as the people's President". Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina described Kalam as "a rare combination of a great statesman, acclaimed scientist, and a source of inspiration to the young generation of South Asia" and termed his death an "irreparable loss to India and beyond". Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief Khaleda Zia said "as a nuclear scientist, he engaged himself in the welfare of the people". Ashraf Ghani, the President of Afghanistan, called Kalam "an inspirational figure to millions of people," noting that "we have a lot to learn from his life". Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala recalled Kalam's scientific contributions to India: "Nepal has lost a good friend and I have lost an honoured and ideal personality." The President of Pakistan, Mamnoon Hussain, and Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif also expressed their grief and condolences on his death. The President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, also expressed his condolences. "Dr. Kalam was a man of firm conviction and indomitable spirit, and I saw him as an outstanding statesman of the world. His death is an irreparable loss not only to India but to the entire world." Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen and Vice-president Ahmed Adeeb condoled Kalam's death, with Yameen naming him as a close friend of the Maldives who would continue to be an inspiration to Indians and generations of South Asians. Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had made an official visit to India during Kalam's presidency, termed his demise as a great loss to all of humankind. The Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, expressed condolences on behalf of the Myanmar government. The Dalai Lama expressed his sadness and offered condolences and prayers, calling Kalam's death "an irreparable loss".


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kathleen Wynne, the Premier of Ontario, which Kalam had visited on numerous occasions, expressed "deepest condolences ... as a respected scientist, he played a critical role in the development of the Indian space programme. As a committed educator, he inspired millions of young people to achieve their very best. And as a devoted leader, he gained support both at home and abroad, becoming known as 'the people's President'. I join our IndoCanadian families, friends, and neighbours in mourning the passing of this respected leader." United States President Barack Obama extended "deepest condolences to the people of India on the passing of former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam", and highlighted his achievements as a scientist and as a statesman, notably his role in strengthening US–India relations and increasing space co-operation between the two nations. "Suitably named 'the People's President', Dr. Kalam's humility and dedication to public service served as an inspiration to millions of Indians and admirers around the world."


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed sincere condolences and conveyed his sympathy and support "to the near and dear ones of the deceased leader, to the government, and entire people of India". He remarked on Kalam's outstanding "personal contribution to the social, economic, scientific, and technical progress of India and in ensuring its national security," adding that Kalam would be remembered as a "consistent exponent of closer friendly relations between our nations, who has done a lot for cementing mutually beneficial RussianIndian cooperation." Other international leaders—including former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and vice-president and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum—also paid tribute to Kalam. In a special gesture, Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon visited the Permanent Mission of India to the UN and signed a condolence book. "The outpouring of grief around the world is a testament of the respect and inspiration he has garnered during and after his presidency. The UN joins the people of India in sending our deepest condolences for this great statesman. May he rest in peace and eternity", Ban wrote in his message.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: The Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam National Memorial was built in memory of Kalam by the DRDO in Pei Karumbu, in the island town of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2017. On display are the replicas of rockets and missiles which Kalam had worked with. Acrylic paintings about his life are also displayed along with hundreds of portraits depicting the life of the mass leader. There is a statue of Kalam in the entrance showing him playing the Veena. There are two other smaller statues of the leader in sitting and standing posture.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam was the youngest of five siblings, the eldest of whom was a sister, Asim Zohra (), followed by three elder brothers: Mohammed Muthu Meera Lebbai Maraikayar (5 November 1916 – 7 March 2021), Mustafa Kalam () and Kasim Mohammed (). He was extremely close to his elder siblings and their extended families throughout his life, and would regularly send small sums of money to his older relations, himself remaining a lifelong bachelor.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam was noted for his integrity and his simple lifestyle. He never owned a television, and was in the habit of rising at 6:30 or 7a.m. and sleeping by 2a.m. His few personal possessions included his books, his veena, some articles of clothing, a CD player and a laptop; at his death, he left no will, and his possessions went to his eldest brother, who survived him.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Religion and spirituality were very important to Kalam throughout his life. He made his own spiritual journey the subject of his final book, "".


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: A proud and practising Muslim, daily namaz and fasting during Ramadan were integral to Kalam's life. His father, the imam of a mosque in his hometown of Rameswaram, had strictly instilled these Islamic customs in his children. His father had also impressed upon the young Kalam the value of interfaith respect and dialogue. As Kalam recalled: "Every evening, my father A. P. Jainulabdeen, an imam, Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the head priest of the Ramanathaswamy Hindu temple, and a church priest used to sit with hot tea and discuss the issues concerning the island." Such early exposure convinced Kalam that the answers to India's multitudinous issues lay in "dialogue and cooperation" among the country's religious, social, and political leaders. Moreover, since Kalam believed that "respect for other faiths" was one of the key cornerstones of Islam, he was fond of saying: "For great men, religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion a fighting tool."


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: One component of Kalam's widespread popularity among diverse groups in India, and an enduring aspect of his legacy, is the syncretism he embodied in appreciating various elements of the many spiritual and cultural traditions of India. In addition to his faith in the Quran and Islamic practice, Kalam was well-versed in Hindu traditions; he learnt Sanskrit, read the Bhagavad Gita and he was a vegetarian. Kalam also enjoyed writing Tamil poetry, playing the veena (an Indian string instrument), and listening to Carnatic devotional music every day. In 2002, in one of his early speeches to Parliament after becoming president, he reiterated his desire for a more united India, stating that "during the last one year I met a number of spiritual leaders of all religions ... and I would like to endeavour to work for bringing about unity of minds among the divergent traditions of our country". Describing Kalam as a unifier of diverse traditions, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor stated, "Kalam was a complete Indian, an embodiment of the eclecticism of India's heritage of diversity". BJP leader L. K. Advani concurred that Kalam was "the best exemplar of the Idea of India, one who embodied the best of all the cultural and spiritual traditions that signify India's unity in immense diversity. This was most strikingly evident in the second-to-last book he published, presciently titled """.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam's desire to meet spiritual leaders to help create a more prosperous, spiritual, and unified India was what initially led him to meet Pramukh Swami, the Hindu guru of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sampradaya, who Kalam would come to consider his ultimate spiritual teacher and guru. The first of eight meetings between Kalam and Pramukh Swami over a fourteen-year period took place on 30 June 2001, in New Delhi, during which Kalam described being immediately drawn to Pramukh Swami's simplicity and spiritual purity. Kalam stated that he was inspired by Pramukh Swami throughout their numerous interactions. One such incident occurred the day following the terrorist attack on BAPS' Akshardham, Gandhinagar complex in September 2002; Pramukh Swami prayed for, and sprinkled holy water upon, the sites of all of the deceased, including the terrorists, demonstrating the view that all human life is sacred. Kalam recalled being moved by Pramukh Swami's equanimity and compassion, citing this incident as one of his motivations for writing "". Summarising the effect that Pramukh Swami had on him, Kalam stated that "[Pramukh Swami] has indeed transformed me. He is the ultimate stage of the spiritual ascent in my life ... Pramukh Swamiji has put me in a God-synchronous orbit. No manoeuvres are required any more, as I am placed in my final position in eternity." Following Kalam's death a month after his final book was released, co-author Arun Tiwari pointed to this passage as potentially prophetic and premonitory of Kalam's death.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In his book "India 2020", Kalam strongly advocated an action plan to develop India into a "knowledge superpower" and a developed nation by 2020. He regarded his work on India's nuclear weapons programme as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam describes a "transformative moment" in his life when he asked Pramukh Swami, the guru of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sampradaya, how India might realise this five-pronged vision of development.  Pramukh Swami's answer—to add a sixth area developing faith in God and spirituality to overcome the current climate of crime and corruption—became the spiritual vision for the next 15 years Kalam's life, which he describes in his final book, "," published just a month before his death.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: It was reported that there was considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam took an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology, including a research programme for developing biomedical implants. He also supported open source technology over proprietary software, predicting that the use of free software on a large scale would bring the benefits of information technology to more people.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam set a target of interacting with 100,000 students during the two years after his resignation from the post of scientific adviser in 1999. He explained, "I feel comfortable in the company of young people, particularly high school students. Henceforth, I intend to share with them experiences, helping them to ignite their imagination and preparing them to work for a developed India for which the road map is already available." His dream is to let every student to light up the sky with victory using their latent fire in the heart.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Kalam received 7 honorary doctorates from 40 universities. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1990 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Government. In 1997, Kalam received India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, for his contribution to the scientific research and modernisation of defence technology in India. In 2013, he was the recipient of the Von Braun Award from the National Space Society "to recognize excellence in the management and leadership of a space-related project".


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Following his death, Kalam received numerous tributes. The Tamil Nadu state government announced that his birthday, 15 October, would be observed across the state as "Youth Renaissance Day;" the state government further instituted the "Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Award", constituting an 8-gram gold medal, a certificate and . The award will be awarded annually on Independence Day, beginning in 2015, to residents of the state with achievements in promoting scientific growth, the humanities or the welfare of students.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: On the anniversary of Kalam's birth in 2015 the CBSE set topics on his name in the CBSE expression series.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Prime Minister Narendra Modi ceremonially released postage stamps commemorating Kalam at DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi on 15 October 2015, the 84th anniversary of Kalam's birth.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Researchers at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had discovered a new bacterium on the filters of the International Space Station (ISS) and named it "Solibacillus kalamii" to honour the late president Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Several educational and scientific institutions and other locations were renamed or named in honour of Kalam following his death.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: Wheeler Island, a national missile test site in Odisha, was renamed Abdul Kalam Island in September 2015.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: A prominent road in New Delhi was renamed from Aurangzeb Road to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in August 2015.


title: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

text: In February 2018, scientists from the Botanical Survey of India named a newly found plant species as "Drypetes kalamii", in his honour.


title: Phil Collins

text: Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English drummer, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and 1990, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles as a solo artist. When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, he had more US top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s. His most successful singles from the period include "In the Air Tonight", "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", "One More Night", and "Another Day in Paradise".


title: Phil Collins

text: Born and brought up in west London, Collins played drums from the age of five and completed drama school training, which secured him various roles as a child actor, with his first major role, aged 13, as the Artful Dodger in the West End musical "Oliver!". He then pursued a music career, joining Genesis in 1970 as their drummer and becoming lead singer in 1975 following the departure of Peter Gabriel. Collins began a successful solo career in the 1980s, initially inspired by his marital breakdown and love of soul music, releasing the albums "Face Value" (1981), "Hello, I Must Be Going" (1982), "No Jacket Required" (1985) and "...But Seriously" (1989). Collins became, in the words of AllMusic, "one of the most successful pop and adult contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond". He also became known for a distinctive gated reverb drum sound on many of his recordings. In 1985, he was the only artist to perform at both Live Aid concerts. He also resumed his acting career, appearing in "Miami Vice" and subsequently starring in the film "Buster" (1988). In 1996, Collins left Genesis to focus on solo work; this included writing songs for Disney's "Tarzan" (1999) for which he received an Oscar for Best Original Song for "You'll Be in My Heart". He rejoined Genesis for their in 2007. Following a five-year retirement to focus on his family life, Collins released an autobiography in 2016 and completed his Not Dead Yet Tour in 2019. He then rejoined Genesis in 2020 for a second reunion tour, ending in March 2022.


title: Phil Collins

text: Collins's discography includes eight studio albums that have sold 33.5 million certified units in the US and an estimated 150 million records sold worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists. He is one of only three recording artists, along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, who have sold over 100 million records both as solo artists and separately as principal members of a band. He has won eight Grammy Awards, six Brit Awards (winning Best British Male Artist three times), two Golden Globe Awards, one Academy Award, and a Disney Legend Award. He was awarded six Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, including the International Achievement Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999, and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. He has also been recognised by music publications with induction into the "Modern Drummer" Hall of Fame in 2012, and the "Classic Drummer" Hall of Fame in 2013.


title: Phil Collins

text: Philip David Charles Collins was born on 30 January 1951 at Putney Hospital in Wandsworth, south-west London. His father, Greville Philip Austin Collins (1907–1972), was an insurance agent for London Assurance and his mother, Winifred June Collins (née Strange, 1913–2011), worked in a toy shop and later as a booking agent at the Barbara Speake Stage School, an independent performing arts school in East Acton. Collins is the youngest of three children: his sister Carole competed as a professional ice skater and followed her mother's footsteps as a theatrical agent, and his brother Clive was a noted cartoonist. The family moved twice by the time Collins had reached two; they settled at 453 Hanworth Road in Hounslow, Middlesex.


title: Phil Collins

text: Collins was given a toy drum kit for Christmas when he was five, and later his two uncles made him a makeshift set with triangles and tambourines that fit into a suitcase. As Collins grew older, these were followed by more complete sets bought by his parents. He practised by playing along to music on the television and radio. During a family holiday at a Butlin's, a seven-year-old Collins entered a talent contest singing "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", but stopped the orchestra halfway through to tell them they were in the wrong key. The Beatles were a major early influence on Collins, including their drummer Ringo Starr. He also followed the lesser-known London band The Action, whose drummer he would copy and whose work introduced him to the soul music of Motown and Stax Records. Collins was also influenced by jazz and big band drummer Buddy Rich, whose opinion on the importance of the hi-hat prompted him to stop using two bass drums and start using the hi-hat.


title: Phil Collins

text: Around twelve, Collins received basic piano and music tuition from his father's aunt. He studied drum rudiments from Lloyd Ryan and later under Frank King, and considered this training as "more helpful than anything else because they're used all the time. In any kind of funk or jazz drumming, the rudiments are always there." Collins never learned to read or write musical notation and devised his own system, which he regretted in later life. "I've always felt that if I could hum it, I could play it. For me, that was good enough, but that attitude is bad."


title: Phil Collins

text: Collins attended Nelson Primary School until he was eleven years old. He was accepted into Chiswick County Grammar School, where he took to football and formed The Real Thing, a school band that had Andrea Bertorelli, his future wife, and friend Lavinia Lang, as backup singers. Both women would have an impact on Collins' personal life in later years. Collins' next group was The Freehold, with whom he wrote his first song, "Lying, Crying, Dying", and played in a group named The Charge.


title: Phil Collins

text: Collins quit school at fourteen to become a full time pupil at Barbara Speake. He had an uncredited part as an extra in the Beatles' film "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), where he is amongst the screaming teenagers during the television concert sequence. Later in 1964, Collins was cast as the Artful Dodger in two West End runs of the musical "Oliver!" He was paid £15 a week, and called the role "the best part for a kid in all London". His days as the Dodger were numbered when his voice broke during a performance and had to speak his lines for the rest of the show. Collins starred in "Calamity the Cow" (1967), a film produced by the Children's Film Foundation. After a falling out with the director, Collins decided to quit acting to pursue music. He was to appear in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968) as one of the children who storm the castle, but his scene was cut. Collins auditioned for the role of Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), but the role went to Leonard Whiting. He also travelled the country teaching people the "crunch" dance made popular by a Smith's crisps advertising campaign.


title: Phil Collins

text: Collins's enthusiasm towards music grew during his acting years. He frequented the Marquee Club on Wardour Street so often, eventually the managers asked him to set out the chairs, sweep the floors, and assist in the cloakroom. It was here where Collins saw The Action and newcomers Yes perform, which greatly influenced him. When auditions for Vinegar Joe and Manfred Mann Chapter Three were unsuccessful, Collins secured a position in the Cliff Charles Blues Band and toured the country. This was followed by a stint in The Gladiators, a backing band for a black vocal quartet, which also featured Collins's schoolmate Ronnie Caryl on guitar. Around this time, Collins learned that Yes were looking for a new drummer and spoke to frontman Jon Anderson, who invited him to an audition the following week. Collins failed to turn up, and later wondered what his life would have been like had he gone ahead with it.


title: Phil Collins

text: In 1969, Collins and Caryl joined John Walker's backing band for a European tour, which also consisted of guitarist Gordon Smith and keyboardist Brian Chatton. The tour finished, the quartet formed a rock band, Hickory, which they later renamed Flaming Youth. They signed to Fontana Records and recorded "Ark 2" (1969), a concept album written and produced by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley that tells the story of man's evacuation from a burning Earth and its voyage into space. Inspired by the 1969 moon landing, each member sings a lead vocal.


title: Phil Collins

text: In May 1970, after Flaming Youth split, Collins played congas on George Harrison's song "Art of Dying", but his contribution was omitted. Years later, Collins asked Harrison about the omission. Harrison sent Collins a recording allegedly containing Collins's performance; Collins was embarrassed to hear that the performance was poor. When Collins apologised, Harrison confessed that the recording was a prank, which Collins accepted in good humour.