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Baltic states

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Baltic states
Location of the  Baltic states  (dark green)

in Europe  (dark grey)  –  [Legend]

Official languages
Currency Euro () (EUR)
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)
Drives on the right
Calling code +370a, +371b, +372c
Internet TLD .lta, .lvb, .eec, .eud
  1. Lithuania
  2. Latvia
  3. Estonia
  4. Shared with other European Union member states.

Coordinates: 55°N 24°E﻿ / ﻿55°N 24°E﻿ / 55; 24 The Baltic states, also known as the Baltic countries, Baltic republics, Baltic nations or simply the Baltics (Estonian: Balti riigid, Baltimaad, Latvian: Baltijas valstis, Lithuanian: Baltijos valstybės), is a geopolitical term used for grouping the three sovereign countries in Northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The term is not used in the context of cultural areas, national identity or language. The three countries cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations.[1]



The term "Baltic" stems from the name of the Baltic Sea – a hydronym dating back to the 11th century (Adam of Bremen mentioned Latin: Mare Balticum) and earlier. Although there are several theories about its origin, most ultimately trace it to Indo-European root *bhel[3] meaning white, fair. This meaning is retained in modern Baltic languages, where baltas (in Lithuanian) and balts (in Latvian) mean "white".[4] However the modern names of the region and the sea, that originate from this root, were not used in either of the two languages prior to the 19th century.[5]

Beginning in the Middle Ages and through the present day, the Baltic Sea appears on the maps described in Germanic languages as German: Ostsee, Danish: Østersøen, Dutch: Oostzee, Swedish: Östersjön, etc. In English "Ost" is "East", and in fact, the Baltic Sea mostly lies to the east of Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The term was historically also used to refer to Baltic Dominions of The Swedish Empire (Swedish: Östersjöprovinserna) and, after, the Baltic governorates of Russian Empire (Russian: Остзейские губернии, translit. Ostzejskie gubernii).[5] The terms related to modern name "Baltic" appear in ancient texts, but had fallen in disuse until reappearing as adjective "Baltisch" in German from which it was adopted in other languages.[6] During 19th century "Baltic" started to surpass "Ostsee" as the name for the region. Officially its Russian equivalent "Прибалтийский" was first used in 1859.[5] This process was a result of the Baltic German elite adopting terms derived from stem "Baltic" to refer to themselves.[6][7]

The term "Baltic states" was, until the early 20th century, used in the context of countries neighbouring the Baltic Sea – Namely Sweden and Denmark, sometimes also Germany and the Russian Empire. With the advent of Foreningen Norden, the term was no longer used for Sweden and Denmark.[8][9] After World War I the new sovereign states that emerged on the east coast of the Baltic sea – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and during the Interwar period, Finland – became known as "The Baltic states".[6]


Northern CrusadesEdit

In the 13th century pagan and Eastern Orthodox Baltic and Finnic peoples in the region became a target of the Northern Crusades.[10][11] In the aftermath of the Livonian crusade, a crusader state officially named Terra Mariana, but also known as Livonia, was established in the territory of modern Latvia and Southern Estonia. It was divided into four autonomous bishoprics and lands of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. After the Brothers of the Sword suffered defeat at the Battle of Saule, the remaining Brothers were integrated into the Teutonic Order as the autonomous Livonian Order. Northern Estonia initially became a Danish dominion, but it was purchased by the Teutonic Order in the mid-14th century. The majority of the crusaders and clergy were German and remained influential in Estonia and most of Latvia until the first half of the 20th century – Baltic Germans formed the backbone of the local gentry, and German served both as a lingua franca and for record-keeping.[6]

The Lithuanians were also targeted by the crusaders; however, they were able to resist and established the Kingdom of Lithuania in 1251 which later became Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It expanded to the east conquering former principalities of Kiev up to the Black sea. After the Union of Krewo in 1385, Grand Duchy of Lithuania created a dynastic union with Kingdom of Poland, they became ever more closely integrated and finally merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. After victory in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the Polish–Lithuanian union became a major political and military power in the region.

Baltic dominions of Swedish EmpireEdit

The Duchies of Estland and Livland within the Swedish Empire


Baltic governates of Russian EmpireEdit



In the late 19th century, nationalist sentiment grew in Estonia and in Latvia morphing into an aspiration to national statehood after the 1905 Russian Revolution.

Newly independent countries East of the Baltic SeaEdit

After the First World War the term "Baltic states" came to refer to countries by the Baltic Sea that had gained independence from Russia in its aftermath. As such it included not only former Baltic governorates, but also Latgale, Lithuania and Finland.[15] As World War I came to a close, Lithuania declared independence and Latvia formed a provisional government. Estonia had already obtained autonomy from tsarist Russia in 1917, but was subsequently occupied by the German Empire; they fought an independence war against Soviet Russia and Baltic nobility before gaining true independence from 1920 to 1939. Latvia and Lithuanians followed a similar process, until the Latvian War of Independence and Lithuanian Wars of Independence were extinguished in 1920.


Prior to World War II Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania each experienced an authoritarian head of state who had come to power after a bloodless coup: Antanas Smetona in Lithuania (December 1926), Konstantin Päts in Estonia (March 1934), and Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia (May 1934). Some note that the events in Lithuania differed from its two more northerly neighbors, with Smetona having different motivations as well as securing power 8 years before any such events in Latvia or Estonia took place. Despite considerable political turmoil in Finland no such events took place there. Finland did however get embroiled in a bloody civil war, something that did not happen in the Baltics.[18] Some controversy surrounds the Baltic authoritarian régimes – due to the general stability and rapid economic growth of the period (even if brief), some commenters avoid the label "authoritarian"; others, however, condemn such an "apologetic" attitude, for example in later assessments of Kārlis Ulmanis.

Soviet and German occupationsEdit

Map of present-day Baltic states


Repressions, executions and mass deportations followed after that in the Baltics.[19][20] Deportations were used as a part of the Soviet Union's attempts, along with instituting the Russian Language as the only working language and other such tactics, at sovietization of its occupied territories. More than 200,000 people were deported by the Soviet government from the Baltic in 1940–1953 to remote, inhospitable areas of the Soviet Union. In addition, at least 75,000 were sent to Gulag. 10% of the entire adult Baltic population was deported or sent to labor camps.[21][22] (See June deportation, Soviet deportations from Estonia, Sovietization of the Baltic states)

The Soviet control of the Baltic states was interrupted by Nazi German invasion of this region in 1941. Initially, many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians considered the Germans as liberators from the Soviet Union. The Baltic countries hoped for the restoration of independence, but instead the Germans established civil administration, known as the Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the occupation the Germans carried out discrimination, mass deportations and mass killings generating Baltic resistance movements (see German occupation of the Baltic states during World War II).[23] Over 190,000 Lithuanian Jews, nearly 95% of Lithuania's pre-war Jewish community, and 66,000 Latvian Jews had been killed. The German occupation lasted until late 1944 (in Courland, until early 1945), when the countries were reoccupied by the Red Army and Soviet rule was re-established, with the passive agreement of the United States and Britain (see Yalta Conference and Potsdam Agreement).


The Baltic Way was a mass anti-Soviet demonstration where approx. 25% of the population of the Baltic states participated

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were considered to be under Soviet occupation by the United States, the United Kingdom,[24] Canada, NATO, and many other countries and international organizations.[25] During the Cold War period Lithuania and Latvia maintained legations in Washington, DC, while Estonia had a mission in New York. Each was staffed, initially by diplomats from the last governments before USSR occupation.[26]

In the late 1980s a massive campaign of civil resistance against Soviet rule, known as the Singing revolution, began. On 23 August 1989, the Baltic Way, a two-million-strong human chain, stretched for 600 km from Tallinn to Vilnius. In the wake of this campaign Gorbachev's government had privately concluded that the departure of the Baltic republics had become "inevitable".[27] This process contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union setting a precedent for the other Soviet republics to secede from the USSR. Soviet Union recognized the independence of three Baltic states on 6 September 1991. There was a subsequent withdrawal of troops from the region (starting from Lithuania) in August 1993. The last Russian troops were withdrawn from there in August 1994.[28] Skrunda-1, the last Russian military radar in the Baltics, officially suspended operations in August 1998.[29]




The same legal interpretation is shared by the United States, the United Kingdom, and most other Western democracies,[citation needed] who held the forcible incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union to be illegal. At least formally, most Western democracies never considered the three Baltic states to be constituent parts of the Soviet Union. Australia was a brief exception to this support of Baltic independence – in 1974, the Labor government of Australia did recognize Soviet dominion, but this decision was reversed by the next Australian Parliament.[30] Other exceptions included Sweden, which was the first Western country, and one of the very few to ever do so, to recognize the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union as lawful.[31]


Regional cooperationEdit





Current leadersEdit


Tallink is the largest passenger shipping company in the Baltic sea region in Northern Europe.




Ethnic groupsEdit

Language branches in Northern Europe
  North Germanic (Iceland and Scandinavia)
  Finnic (Finland, Estonia)
  Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania)

Estonians are Finnic people, together with the neighboring Finns. The Latvians and Lithuanians, linguistically and culturally related to each other, are Baltic and Indo-European people. The peoples comprising the Baltic states have together inhabited the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea for millennia, although not always peacefully in ancient times, over which period their populations, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian have remained remarkably stable within the approximate territorial boundaries of the current Baltic states. While separate peoples with their own customs and traditions, historical factors have introduced cultural commonalities across and differences within them.



The Baltic states have a considerable Slavic minority: in Latvia: 33.0% (including 25.4% Russian, 3.3% Belarusian, 2.2% Ukrainian, and 2.1% Polish),[36] in Estonia: 27.6%[37] and in Lithuania: 12.2% (including 5.6% Polish and 4.5% Russian).[38]





The Estonian language is a Finnic language, together with the neighboring Finland.

Catholic Church of All Saints, Vilnius, Lithuania







Association football is popular in the Baltic states, but the only appearance of a Baltic team in a major international competition was Latvia's qualification for Euro 2004. The national teams of the three states have played in the Baltic Cup since 1928.

Estonian and Soviet chess grandmaster Paul Keres was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s. He narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. Estonian Markko Märtin was successful in the World Rally Championship in the early 2000, where he got five wins and 18 podiums, as well as a third place in the 2004 standings.

Latvian tennis player Jeļena Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open, another Latvian tennis player Ernests Gulbis was a semifinalist at the 2010 Rome Masters and 2014 French Open.




General statisticsEdit

All three are Unitary republics, joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, share EET/EEST time zone schedules and euro currency.

Estonia Latvia Lithuania Total
Coat of arms       N/A
Flag       N/A
Capital Tallinn Riga Vilnius N/A
Independence -until 13th century
-24 February 1918
-restored 20 August 1991
-Until 13th century
-18 November 1918
-restored 21 August 1991
-Until 18th century
-16 February 1918
-restored 11 March 1990
Parliament Riigikogu Saeima Seimas N/A
Current President Kersti Kaljulaid Raimonds Vējonis Dalia Grybauskaitė N/A
Population (2018)  1,319,133[41]  1,934,379[42]  2,800,738[43]  6,054,250
Density 29/km2 = 75/sq mi 31/km2 = 79/sq mi 44/km2 = 115/sq mi 35/km2 = 92/sq mi
Water area % 4.56% 1.5% 1.35% 2.23%
GDP (nominal) total (2018)[44] $30.821 billion $35.915 billion $54.352 billion $121.088 billion
GDP (nominal) per capita (2018)[44] $23,610 $18,472 $19,534 $20,000
GDP (PPP) total (2018)[44] $44.177 billion $57.336 billion $96.261 billion $197.774 billion
GDP (PPP) per capita (2018)[44] $33,842 $29,489 $34,596 $32,667
Military budget (2018) €533 million(€523mil.+additional €10mil.)[45] €576 million[46] €891 million(€873mil.+additional €18mil.)[47] €2.000 billion
Gini Index (2015)[48] 32.7 34.2 37.4 N/A
HDI (2015)[49] 0.865 (Very High) 0.830 (Very High) 0.848 (Very High) N/A
Internet TLD .ee .lv .lt N/A
Calling code +372 +371 +370 N/A


See alsoEdit


  1. ^ "Baltic Cooperation | Ministry of Foreign Affairs". Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2018. 
  2. ^ a b "Colombia and Lithuania join the OECD". France 24. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018. 
  3. ^ "Indo-European etymology : Query result". Archived from the original on 25 February 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2018. 
  6. ^ a b c d Bojtar, Endre (1999). Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People. Central European University Press. ISBN 9789639116429. 
  9. ^ Mahan, Alfred Thayer (2006). The Life of Nelson. ISBN 978-1-4116-7198-0. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018. 
  10. ^ Tarlow, Sarah (30 September 2015). The Archaeology of Death in Post-medieval Europe. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-043973-1. 
  11. ^ Kasekamp, Andres (30 August 2010). A History of the Baltic States. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-36450-9. 
  14. ^ Matthews, W. K. (May 1947). "Nationality and Language in the East Baltic Area". American Slavic and East European Review. 6 (No. 1/2): 62–78. 
  21. ^ "The Baltic States". 20 April 2009. Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2018. 
  23. ^ "Murder of the Jews of the Baltic States". Yad Vashem. 
  25. ^ "U.S.-Baltic Relations: Celebrating 85 Years of Friendship". U.S. Department of State. 14 June 2007. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2018. 
  26. ^ Norman Kempster, Annexed Baltic States : Envoys Hold On to Lonely U.S. Postings Archived 19 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Los Angeles Times, 31 October 1988. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  27. ^ Beissinger, Mark R. (2009). "The intersection of Ethnic Nationalism and People Power Tactics in the Baltic States". In Adam Roberts; Timothy Garton Ash. Civil resistance and power politics: the experience of non-violent action from Gandhi to the present. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 231–246. ISBN 978-0-19-955201-6. 
  29. ^ "SKRUNDA SHUTS DOWN. - Jamestown". Jamestown. 1 September 1993. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2013. 
  31. ^ Mart, Kuldkepp,. "Swedish political attitudes towards Baltic independence in the short twentieth century". Ajalooline Ajakiri. The Estonian Historical Journal (3/4). ISSN 2228-3897. 
  36. ^ "Pilsonības un migrācijas lietu pārvalde – Kļūda 404" (PDF). 
  38. ^ "Home – Oficialiosios statistikos portalas". 
  41. ^ "Immigration exceeded emigration for the third year in a row". Statistics Estonia. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018. 
  42. ^ "ISG040. Area, population density and population (at the beginning of the year and average) in regions, cities under state jurisdiction and counties-Statistikas datubāzes". Statistikas datubāzes. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2018. 
  43. ^ "Pradžia – Oficialiosios statistikos portalas". 
  44. ^ a b c d "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Retrieved 28 May 2018. 
  45. ^ "Defence budget – Kaitseministeerium". 
  47. ^ Bns. "Lietuva turbūt dar šiemet didins gynybos biudžetą". 

Further readingEdit

  • Bousfield, Jonathan (2004). Baltic States. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-85828-840-6. 
  • Clerc, Louis; Glover, Nikolas; Jordan, Paul, eds. Histories of Public Diplomacy and Nation Branding in the Nordic and Baltic Countries: Representing the Periphery (Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 2015). 348 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-30548-9. for an online book review see online review
  • Lane, Thomas; Artis Pabriks; Aldis Purs; David J. Smith (2013). The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-48304-2. 
  • Lehti, Marko; David J. Smith, eds. (2003). Post-Cold War Identity Politics – Northern and Baltic Experiences. London/Portland: Frank Cass Publishers. ISBN 0-7146-8351-5. 
  • Vilkauskaite, Dovile O. "From Empire to Independence: The Curious Case of the Baltic States 1917-1922." (thesis, University of Connecticut, 2013). online; Bibliography pp 70 – 75.


External linksEdit

Official statistics of the Baltic states: