E-Estonia

11.02.2010

• 71% of the population aged 16-74 years uses the internet (Statistics Estonia, 2009).
• 63% of households have internet capabilities (Statistics Estonia, 2009).
• All Estonian schools are connected to the internet.
• Rapid wi-fi internet connections are available in more than 1100 public places; in many places that service is free of charge. The area of wi-fi internet is constantly growing and encompasses all of Estonia: www.wifi.ee
• 98% of banking transactions in Estonia are conducted through the internet.
• Income tax declarations can be made electronically via internet. In 2009, over 91% of income tax declarations were presented through the e-Tax Board.
• Expenditures made by the government can be followed on the internet in real time.
• Cabinet meetings have been changed to paperless sessions using a web-based document system.
• There are more mobile phone contracts than residents - 121 per 100 people (Estonian Competition Authority, 2009).
• Estonia is completely covered by digital mobile phone networks.

According to the research undertaken by the World Economic Forum on the use of information technology in 134 countries (The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009 – The Network Readiness of Nations, www.weforum.org), Estonia ranks 18th in the Networked Readiness Index and is the highest ranking Central and Eastern European country.

In 2001, the central database X-Road (X-Tee) was launched, which is a comfortable and secure online environment for Estonian citizens where they can view their information registered in different national databases. Today it provides access to 54 different databases and 349 services.

From 2005-2008 the programme VillageWay 3 (KülaTee 3) was implemented, which aimed to bring internet connections to sparsely populated areas of the country. Thanks to the programme, the availability of internet connections in Estonia is about 98%.

e-Governance Academy
Estonia shares its experiences as an e-state with other countries as well. The e-Governance Academy has trained over 600 participants from 36 countries, including Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Georgia, Hungary, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Pakistan, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan.

E-services with ID card and mobile phone

ID card
As of January 2010, more than 1 million people in Estonia (almost 90% of inhabitants) have ID cards. The Estonian ID card serves as an identification document and, within the European Union, also as a travel document. In addition to its physical use, the card is also used as proof of ID when utilising online services.
In addition to the ID card one can also use a mobile phone to identify oneself for online services. This is even more convenient since one doesn’t need an ID card reader in the computer. A mobile phone acts as a card and a card reader at the same time.
Using the ID card or Mobile ID to identify oneself, a person can make

• everyday banking transactions,
• submit an income tax declaration,
• buy a bus ticket,
• check his or her personal data in the X-Road portal,
• give a digital signature,
• participate in elections,
• buy medicines with a prescription.

E-elections

In October 2005, the population of Estonia had for the first time the opportunity to participate in the local government elections via the internet without leaving home. When giving one's electronic vote, the voter had to identify himself/herself by means of his/her ID card. In the parliamentary elections in the spring of 2007 it was also possible to vote via the internet, and about 5% of voters took advantage of this opportunity. The e-voting system is gaining popularity. In 2009 for the European Parliament elections 58 669 voters used e-voting, which is 15% of all the people who voted. In the local government council elections in October 2009, a total of 104 413 persons used e-voting. Since the participation in those elections was higher, the percentage of e-votes among all the votes cast remained at the same level – 15.7%.

e-Tax Board

Estonian citizens can declare their income taxes electronically through the internet. Estonia’s e-Tax Board offers a pre-completed form which makes it easy and fast to submit your tax return. The system identifies persons with the help of an ID Card or Mobile ID. The service has become so popular among Estonian residents that in 2009 over 91% of income tax declarations were presented through the e-Tax Board.

M-parking

One can use their mobile phone to pay for parking their car (m-parking) by phoning a certain number or sending an SMS. To inform the parking controller that the payment is being effected by phone, an m-parking sticker is stuck on the windshield or the right side window of the vehicle.

Paying by mobile phone

Since November 2002, the two largest Estonian banks have offered the opportunity to make payments via mobile phone. As of September 2009, it is possible to pay by mobile in 619 places. Among them are motels, beauty salons, and shops, as well as taxi and catering businesses. Sales places facilitating mobile payment are recognisable by their blue and yellow sticker that reads, "Maksa mobiiliga" (Pay by mobile phone).
It is also possible to use one's mobile phone to make a bank transfer to an individual and to buy a bus ticket.

E-services in health care

Digital prescription

On 1 January 2010, an IT solution was applied to Estonia’s health care—a digital prescription system. In the past patients had to carry prescriptions on paper with them. This system had several weaknesses: it was easy to lose that paper, the handwriting of the doctor could be illegible, etc. Electronic prescriptions have solved these problems because all prescriptions are sent to a central database. When the patient goes to the pharmacy, the pharmacist receives the prescription from the central database and there is no possibility that the patient has lost the prescription or that it is unreadable.

E-Health record

In January of 2010 Estonia began using a medical information system with which people can view their own digital medical history. The system contains information on diagnoses, doctor’s visits, tests, hospital treatments, medications prescribed by a doctor, etc. A person gains access to their information through the patient portal by confirming their identity using an ID card.

E-services in education

e-School

As of 2003, it is possible for all Estonian schools to use the web-based school-home communication environment e-School (eKool). The purpose of e-School is to engage parents more actively in the study process, make information on subjects more available to children as well as to parents, and to facilitate the work of teachers and of the school management. For example, via e-School one can follow the marks given to students, their absence from classes, the content of lessons, and homework and assessments given to students by teachers at the end of the study period. There are already 430 schools across Estonia using eSchool, which is 67% of schools in Estonia.

SAIS - Admissions information system

It is possible for young Estonians to submit admission applications to higher education institutions electronically without having to physically go to the school. In 2007, over 350,000 applications were submitted through SAIS. About 80% of Estonian higher education students study in institutions that use the SAIS system.

Exam results by SMS

Students finishing secondary school in Estonia can find out the scores of their final exams via SMS. This way the student who completed the exam receives his or her scores in a text message immediately after the exam has been graded. In 2008, nearly 60% of students taking secondary school final exams ordered SMS scores.