Population
As stated before, Estonia is currently on its way to a steady downfall in its population. With a replacement rate of 0, families are not producing enough children to take their place in the world. By 2025, Estonia is projected to not have raised their population by any stretch, and by mid-2050, the population will fall by almost 1 million people (World Population Data Sheet 2010). Estonia as of now, has a large middle age population that makes up 66% of the total. The elderly and children 15 and younger make up only 17% each. Estonians ages 15 and up, need to become educated on the problem of population decline, and take steps to getting their country back to a solid replacement level.
Drug Use
Estonia has had a rapid increase in drug use among its younger population. in 1995 5% of school youth aged 15-16 had tried some elicit drug (UNGASS 2010). By 2000 that same statistic was up to 16% (UNGASS 2010). The last statistic was taken in 2007, with a staggering 30% of school youth having tried elicit drugs. The rate for adults and teenagers have increased at a consistent percent also, but nowhere near the numbers school youth have undergone. The main cause of concern for this increase in drug use, is the increase in AIDS cases due to syringe sharing, and lack of education about its dangers. Coupled with prostitution, Estonia has to quickly jump on these issues if they are to keep AIDS from rising higher and higher each year. By 2050, Estonia needs to create a system to eliminate drugs used through injection, lower the amount of youth doing drugs, and educate its inhabitants to the dangers drugs and AIDs can cause them.
Fertility
Since Estonia's population is diminishing rapidly, fertility itself needs to be addressed as its own category. Estonia currently has a 1.65 replacement ratio, and looking at population fertility trends, this number is not going to increase enough to help sustain population (Statistics Estonia 2008). Abortions are extremely prevalent in Estonia, and most abortions are undergone by married woman to control birth. Since abortion has become one of the top methods of family planning, Estonia is losing the battle at trying to sway people to follow birth control or family planning without the use of surgical techniques or abortions, which could lead to infertility. As stated above in population, Estonia is having dire problems with population growth, and unless some large changes take place, Estonia may collapse in its lack of population.
The pressing issues of unemployment in Estonia today have already been discussed. If Estonia is unable to resolve the high rates of unemployment in the country by 2050, then the trends of suicide, stroke, and violence starting to occur today will undoubtably increase in the future. Estonia currently leads the European Union in numbers of suicides each year, especially among men (Mortality; Estonica 2010). Estonia also leads in deaths attributed by violence and homicides. In fact, 16.4% of male deaths in 1990 were caused by violent behavior (Mortality; Estonica 2010). Cardiovascular disease among men has been steadily rising since the 1960s, with no indication of slowing down. These trends are assumed to be attributed by the high unemployment rate for Estonian males. Due to the stress of not finding work, heath issues and violent behavior are becoming increasingly prevalent. Unless the unemployment rates are addressed by the government, Estonia will be facing this pressing issues of male mortality well until 2050.
Loss of Working Age Population
With Estonia's already small population continually aging, the number of working aged citizens will be at an all-time low by 2050. Because average life expectancies in Estonia are lower than the rest of the EU (65 for men and 76 for women), the window of opportunity for people to stay in the work force is correspondingly smaller (Demographic Problems; Estonica 2010). Until the 1990s, Estonia had not set in place any sort of pension or retirement systems for its people. While they have started to address the issues of an aging population, caring for these people will prove to be a daunting task in the next forty years. While the Estonian economy was flourishing during the 1990's, loss of working aged laborers in the years to come will undoubtably cause a speed-bump in their economic progress. They will need to work on increasing life expectancies and improving fertility in order to maintain their GDP and high economic standards in the future.
Negative Affects of Male Unemployment
The pressing issues of unemployment in Estonia today have already been discussed. If Estonia is unable to resolve the high rates of unemployment in the country by 2050, then the trends of suicide, stroke, and violence starting to occur today will undoubtably increase in the future. Estonia currently leads the European Union in numbers of suicides each year, especially among men (Mortality; Estonica 2010). Estonia also leads in deaths attributed by violence and homicides. In fact, 16.4% of male deaths in 1990 were caused by violent behavior (Mortality; Estonica 2010). Cardiovascular disease among men has been steadily rising since the 1960s, with no indication of slowing down. These trends are assumed to be attributed by the high unemployment rate for Estonian males. Due to the stress of not finding work, heath issues and violent behavior are becoming increasingly prevalent. Unless the unemployment rates are addressed by the government, Estonia will be facing this pressing issues of male mortality well until 2050.
