The government needs to better explain its decisions, Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) said commenting on the government coalition's January ratings, which show a downward trend.

"Recent opinion polls show mainly two things. Firstly, the government has unfortunately not been able to explain its decisions and large reforms to all people convincingly enough. All coalition parties have to make their own deductions here and try harder in the future," Ratas said on social media on Saturday.

According to Ratas, the government has launched several important reforms and all its decisions serve the interests of the Estonian people, but the government has to better explain these in the future and listen to people's feedback.

"Secondly, I'm sincerely sorry that instead of celebrations, the anniversary year of the Republic of Estonia has kicked off in such a disruptive and contrasting mood," Ratas said.

The prime minister called on people to look to the future in a more positive way. "We just successfully completed the presidency of the European Union which increased our reputation. The Estonian economy, wages and pensions are growing in the fastest rate of the past few years and we are better protected than ever. These are not small things, but we often tend to take our accomplishments for granted," he said.

When speaking about the tax reform which has been criticized, Ratas said that more than 80 percent of Estonian residents win as a result of it and the society will become more equal and solidary than before.

"We have to be thankful to a fifth of the population who have to contribute more than before. It is an European approach which has brought success to the Nordic countries and to so many more who we see as great examples," Ratas said.

The support of the Center Party and the whole government coalition declined considerably, it appears from a fresh survey taken by Kantar Emor for BNS and Postimees in January. The total support of the three government coalition parties, the Center Party, the Social Democratic Party (SDE) and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), was 36 percent. The last time a government coalition's support was this small was in the summer of 2013.