Estonian Integration Strategy (2008-2009) monitoring

1. Estonian Integration Strategy (2008-2009) monitoring Raivo Vetik, Professor of Comparitive Politics, TLU

2. Background • Tallinn University research group: Raivo Vetik, Jüri Kruusvall, Maaris Raudsepp, Gerli Nimmerfeldt, Marti Taru, Riina Tõugu. • February to April 2010 – preparations for the study in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture. • 11th – 24th of May 2010 – research company Saar Poll interviewed 1010 respondents (half of them russophones) aged 15-74, selected in accordance with the proportional random sample.

3. General overview of the results On the one hand: • The contacts between people of different ethnic background have become somewhat more frequent. • Mutual recognition between between people of different ethnic background has grown. • The Estonian language skills of the russophone population have improved. On the other hand: • The wish to obtain Estonian citizenship has declined significantly among stateless people. • Trust in the Estonian state and its institutions is very low among the Russian speaking population. • Perception of the economic inequality across ethnic groups has grown.

4. The Integration Strategyaims to achieve by 2013: • The level of command of Estonian among people whose mother tongue is not Estonian has improved on all levels; • Contacts and communication between people with different mother tongues have increased anddifferences in participation in civil society organisations and the public sphere between the Estonianand Russian speaking population have decreased; • The percentage of people with undetermined citizenship among the residents of Estonia has been consistently decreasing; • The majority of Estonian residents trust people of other nationalities living in Estonia and they trust the Estonian state; • A majority of the people whose mother tongue is not Estonian regularly receive informationfrom Estonian media sources and trust them; • Differences in employment and income levels between employees of different ethnic groups have decreased.

5. Estonian language skills Objective: • The level of command of Estonian among the people whose mother tongue is not Estonian hasimproved on all levels. Indicator: • Self-assessment of one’s command of theEstonian language (good; average; poor; none at all) on the basis of the following: understanding oralspeech, reading, writing, and communicating.

6. According to self-perception Estonian language skills have improved: high association with age and region

7. Estonian language skills are influenced by the language needed at the workplace

8. Attitudes towards language learning among the Russian-speaking population are similar to that of the Estonians – interest is high!

10. Need for the Russian language has grown among Estonians – half of the respondents need it at work and a quater in their spare time. • Related to the the rise in the amount of contacts and communication between the ethnic groups.

11. Contacts and participation Objective: • Contacts and communication between people with different mother tongues have increased anddifferences in participation in civil society organisations and the public sphere between Estoniansand Russian speaking population have decreased. Indicator: • Regular contacts between Estonians and members of other ethnic groups.

12. The amount of contacts has increased – actual amount and also the acknowledgement of contacts

13. The biggest differences are in the perceived role of the Russian Federation, the politics of the Estonian government and socio-economic inequality.

14. The attitudes of Estonians towards cooperation with the Russian speakers have become more positive.

15. Decrease in the number of stateless people Objective: • The percentage of people with undetermined citizenship among the residents of Estonia has been consistently decreasing. Indicator: • The percentage of people with undetermined citizenship among the residents of Estonia.

16. The stateless form 7,5% of the population. • Relation to age – The biggest age group among russophone Estonian citizens are the 15-29 year olds (34%), whereas the same agegroup forms just 4% of the respondents among the citizens of the Russian Federation – about half of whom are over 60. In the stateless group, all age groups are about equal. • Relation to education – among the stateless the group of respondents with just basic education is the biggest (30%) and only 5% have higher education.

17. Reasons for statelessness– a) language and the exam, b) pragmatic, c) emotional considerations

18. The wish to obtain Estonian citizenship has declined significantly among the stateless – related to age and income

19. What characterizes the stateless who do not wish to have any citizenship? • 61% are over 45 years old. • 54% have low Estonian language skills (measured by index) • 40% feel a strong or a very strong connection to Estonia • 58% feel apart from the Estonian society, 76% love Estonia • 57% feel more at home in Estonia than anywhere else in the world. • 92% consider the citizenship policy to be too harsh and unjust to non-Estonians.

20. Political and social trust Objective: • The majority of Estonian residents trust people of other nationalities living in Estonia and the Estonian state. Indicators: • Attitude of Estonians towards people from other ethnic groups participating in social andpolitical life. • Trust towards the Estonian State among Estonians and people from other ethnic groups.

22. The social trust of Estonians is a little higher. “trust” and “trust strongly”

23. The proportion of Estonians who think that the views of the Russian speakers should be taken more into consideration has grown. The opinions of the non-Estonians should be better known and taken into consideration because they are an important part of the society

24. Both sides are self-critical in respect to integration – this is a sign of recognition of the other.

25. Employment and income Objective • Differences in employment and income levels between employees of different ethnic groups have decreased. Indicators: • Comparison of the level of satisfaction with the financial well-beingof one’s family among ethnic groups. • Percentage of people among Estonians and other ethnic groupswho consider opportunities for different ethnic groups and the position in the society to be equal.

26. Estonians’ evaluations of their personal economic situation are much higher than those of non-Estonians. The differences between ethnic groups are on a rise.

27. Russian-speakers predominantly consider the situation and opportunities more favorable for Estonians

28. Main conclusions: • Russian-speaking population: Adaptation to the Estonian society in the sense of contacts and language skills is improving, but alienation from the state as a political institution in the sense of trust and sense of belonging is deepening. • Estonians: The amount of contacts has increased and intergration-related attitudes have become a bit more open.