The Government approved the national long-term development strategy “Estonia 2035”

Tallinn, Stenbock House, 8 October 2020 – Today, the Government approved the national long-term development strategy “Estonia 2035” and submitted it to the Riigikogu. The main focus of the strategy is on the health of our citizens, preparedness for change, and our relationship with the living environment. The strategy will lead the development and major changes of the Estonian society in the following couple of decades. It is closely intertwined with the national budgeting processes and acts as a basis for planning the European funding for the next period.

Prime Minister Jüri Ratas acknowledged that Estonia is facing crucial future issues, such as the fast ageing of the population, rapid changes on the labour market, climate issues – all proving to be a challenge as well as an opportunity.

“Estonia has needed a long-term roadmap for a while. As a result of the cooperation between a number of people, the strategy proposes where and how fast Estonia wishes to move over the next 15 years. It places wise, healthy, and active people at the heart of the Estonian economy, living environment, and governance objectives,” the prime minister said. He added that even achieving a single goal brings about a number of changes in the following years in several areas, such as education, the healthcare system, and cultural organisation.

The objectives laid down in the strategy and approved by the Government will guarantee that Estonians will remain wise, active, and healthy also in fifteen years, the Estonian society will remain caring, cooperative, and open, and our economy will remain strong, innovative, and responsible. The focus is also on assuring that our environment is caring, safe, and high-quality, and that our nation is innovative, trustworthy, and people-centred.

In addition to the five strategic directions, the strategy also considers Estonian needs for development and the main necessary changes in the coming decade. An important part of the “Estonia 2035” strategy is a plan that compiles all actions necessary for implementing the objectives, their initiators, and the metrics to measure our success with.

“We do not want to see this strategy collecting dust on some shelf, so we have listed the main changes and actions to achieve these goals and set down very clear indicators that we will be following regularly. These include, for example, an increase of the number of healthy years, the proportion of obese people, participation in life-long learning, and Estonia’s position in the Global Entrepreneurship Index,” Prime Minister Jüri Ratas said. “A couple dozen ambitious indicators will give us constant feedback on whether or not we are on the right track.”

The “Estonia 2035” strategy is primarily implemented through development plans and programmes in each field. In order to achieve Estonia’s strategic aims, we need the contribution of local government units and organisations from the public sector, the voluntary sector, and the private sector, and the knowledge of Estonian people in making everyday choices. “Estonia 2035” is a base document for planning European funding for the next period, and it is closely linked with the national budgeting processes.

Approximately 17,000 people have contributed their knowledge and expectations to compiling the national long-term development strategy “Estonia 2035” over two years. The strategy was born as the co-creation of researchers, experts, partners, politicians, entrepreneurs, and many Estonian people, and it is based on numerous discussions, analysis, reports on Estonia, and nationwide harvesting of opinions.

The compilation, implementation, and coordination of changes of the “Estonian 2035” strategy is the responsibility of the Government Office in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance.

Information on the strategy: https://www.riigikantselei.ee/et/Eesti2035

Additional information: Eili Lepik, Deputy Strategy Director of the Government Office, phone 693 5619, e-mail [email protected]