Albania vs Estonia

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Albania ( (listen) a(w)l-BAY-nee-ə; Albanian: Shqipëri or Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipni or Shqipnia also Shqypni or Shqypnia), officially the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë, pronounced [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːsə]), is a country in Southeast Europe on the Adriatic and Ionian Sea within the Mediterranean Sea.

It shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo into the northeast, North Macedonia to the east, Greece to the south and maritime borders with Greece, Montenegro and Italy to the west. Geographically, the country displays diverse climatic, geological, hydrological, and morphological conditions, defined in an area of 28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi). It possesses significant diversity together with the landscape ranging from the snow-capped mountains in the Albanian Alps as well as the Korab, Skanderbeg, Pindus and Ceraunian Mountains to the hot and sunny coasts of the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea along the Mediterranean Sea. Historically, the nation has been inhabited by numerous civilisations like the Illyrians, Thracians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans. The Albanians established the autonomous Principality of Arbër in the 12th century. The Kingdom of Albania and Principality of Albania formed between the 13th and 14th centuries. Before the Ottoman conquest of Albania in the 15th century, the Albanian resistance to Ottoman expansion into Europe headed by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg won them acclaim over most of Europe. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, cultural developments, widely attributed to Albanians having accumulated both intellectual and spiritual strength, conclusively resulted in the Albanian Renaissance. Following the defeat of the Ottomans in the Balkan Wars, the modern nation state of Albania declared independence in 1912. In the 20th century, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy which formed Greater Albania before becoming a protectorate of Nazi Germany. Enver Hoxha formed Communist Albania following the Second World War and launched the Albanians on a course of oppression and decades of isolation. The Revolutions of 1991 concluded the fall of communism in Albania and eventually the establishment of the current Republic of Albania. Politically, the country is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic and developing nation with an upper-middle income economy dominated by the service sector, followed by manufacturing. It went through a process of transition following the end of communism in 1990, from centralized planning to a market-based economy. Albania provides universal healthcare and free primary and secondary education to its citizens.The nation is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, UNESCO, NATO, WTO, COE, OSCE, and OIC. It's an official candidate for membership in the European Union. It is one of the founding members of the Energy Community, such as the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and Union for the Mediterranean.

Source: Wikipedia

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Estonia (Estonian: Eesti [ˈeːsʲti] (listen)), officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Vabariik), is a country on the eastern Shore of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe.

It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 kilometers ). The land of Estonia includes the mainland and of 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi), water 2,839 km2 (1,096 sq mi), land area 42,388 km2 (16,366 sq mi), and is influenced by a humid continental climate. Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and Tartu are the largest cities and urban areas in the nation. Other notable cities include Narva, Pärnu, Kohtla-Järve and Viljandi. The official language of the country, Estonian, is the second-most-spoken Finnic language. The land of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 9,000 BC. Historical Estonians became some of the last European pagans to embrace Christianity after the Livonian Crusade in the 13th century. After centuries of successive rule by Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles and Russians, a different Estonian national identity began to emerge in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This culminated in independence from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I. Initially democratic before the Great Depression, Estonia experienced authoritarian rule from 1934 through the Era of Silence. During World War II (1939--1945), Estonia was repeatedly contested and occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany, ultimately being incorporated into the former. Following the reduction of its de facto independence, Estonia's de jure state continuity was maintained by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile. In 1987 the calm Singing Revolution began against Soviet rule, resulting in the recovery of de facto independence on 20 August 1991. The sovereign state of Estonia is a democratic unitary parliamentary republic split into fifteen counties. With a population of 1.3 million Estonia is among the least populous members of the European Union, the Eurozone, the OECD, the Schengen Area, NATO, and from 2020, the United Nations Security Council.Estonia is a developed nation with an advanced, high-income market that was among the fastest-growing in the EU since its entrance in 2004 The nation ranks very high in the Human Development Index, and contrasts well in measures of economic freedom, civil liberties, education, and media freedom. Estonian citizens receive universal health care, free education, and the longest paid maternity leave in the OECD. Among the world's most digitally-advanced societies, In 2005 Estonia became the first state to hold elections over the world wide web, and in 2014, the first state to provide e-residency.

Source: Wikipedia