Estonian Human Development Report

ence of social contacts, including relationships with children
and grandchildren (Farquhar 1995). The increase in
social risks and insecurity caused by the changes in Estonian
society at the beginning of the 1990s (Kutsar 1997)
increased the importance of the help and support received
through family connections and informal networks as a
means of maintaining one’s quality of life. Yet it is safe
to assume that there was a shortage of resources that
could be used to aid each other. In 1994, 32% of people
received help in housework from their adult children and
28% of parents provided help to their adult children. Ten
years later, the share of people receiving help has grown
to 53%, while 39% of parents help their adult children
with child care or housework. Hence, there has been an
increase in the provision of inter-generation support. On
the one hand, this tendency may represent a strengthening
of ties between generations and/or reflect the insufficiency
of social services which has brought about an
increase in informal help. For example, the role of grandparents
in child care is relatively large: in 2004, a third of
the respondents said that their children’s babysitters were
usually the grandparents, while in the case of a fourth of
the respondents, one of the parents themselves stayed at
home (ESS 2004). Although the availability of child care
services has improved recently, the grandparents remain,
in all likelihood, an important resource in the day-to-day
organization of family life. However, the expectations of
Estonian residents regarding support from the family are
lower in comparison to other European countries, resembling
the corresponding indicators for Denmark, France
and Finland (Olagnero et al. 2008).
Communication networks. In addition to family, an
individual’s support network comprises their friends,
neighbours and co-workers. Compared to the end of the
1990s, the frequency of communication between people
had increased somewhat by 2006: the share of respondents
who saw their friends once a week increased from
60% in 1999 to 77% in 2006. The activeness in communicating
with friends is dependent on age – younger people
have more contacts with friends than older people. Furthermore,
Estonia’s Russian-speaking population tends
to communicate with friends more frequently than the
Estonian population (46% of Russians and 37% of Estonians
communicate with friends at least several times a
week or more frequently). People are generally satisfied
with their relationships (in 2008, only 5% of the respondents
reported that they were dissatisfied with their relationships
with friends and people close to them). About
a half of the Estonians and a third of the Russian-speaking
population are completely satisfied with their relationships.
Compared to Estonians, a higher percentage of non-
Estonians agree with the statement that people are more
likely to care about themselves than try to help others. The
level of trust in others is also lower in the case of non-Estonians.
Interpersonal trust is not dependent on age or gender,
but a higher tendency to express trust is exhibited by
people with a higher education.
Participation in social life. In 2008, more than 85% of
the population belonged to citizens’ associations, societies
and clubs – a significant increase from the mid-1990s
when just 31% of the population belonged to an association.
This growth has mainly been the result of the increase in
the memberships of housing and consumers’ cooperatives.
In 2008, 46% of the respondents were engaged in other
Figure 3.2.5. Difference between average trust and
the average opinion of a given group by year
Police
Legal system
The Riigikogu
Higher
education
Russianspeaking
population
Estonianspeaking
population
Higher
education
Russianspeaking
population
Estonianspeaking
population
Higher
education
Russianspeaking
population
Estonianspeaking
population
-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
2008 2006 2004
Source: European Social Surveys, 2004 and 2006; Integration of Estonian
Society: Monitoring 2008.
forms of co-operation. Despite the increase in participation
in social life, the level of participation in Estonia still lags
behind the corresponding indicators for Western European
countries, but is higher than those of Latvia and Lithuania
(Olagnero et al. 2008). Active participation in local events
or the organization thereof is much more common outside
Tallinn and North-Eastern Estonia. Younger people with
a higher education and a larger salary tend to participate
in organizations and citizens’ associations more actively.
Charity organizations have the lowest rate of participation
(approximately 20% of Estonia’s population in 2006).
Relationship between the individual
and society
Feeling of security. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the
sense of security has grown in Estonian society. In 1994,
43% of people were not afraid of being attacked in the
street; by 1999 the figure had grown by eight percentage
points and reached 60% by 2006. However, there are
certain differences: in 2008, 86% of Estonians were completely
or relatively satisfied with their personal security,
but only 63% of the Russian-speaking population reported
similar confidence in their security. There are also considerable
differences in this regard between residents of rural
areas and cities. While 15% of city-dwellers are completely
satisfied with their security, the satisfaction rate is twice as
high among people living in rural areas.
Interest in politics. People’s connectedness with the
state can be viewed through how much they are interested
in the politics and care about the well-being of the state.
Compared to 1994, the number of people who are very
interested in politics has tripled as of 2008 (growing from
5% to 17%) and there has also been an increase in the percentage
of people “rather interested” in politics (from 35%
to 52%). Interest in politics is highest among people with
a higher education and nearly a quarter of the population
aged between 60 and 75 state that they are very interested
in politics. A comparison of the Russian-speaking
and Estonian-speaking populations reveals that non-Estonians
are generally somewhat more interested in politics,
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