Growth masks social woes in Estonia election

Tallinn, March 3: Strong economic growth in Estonia, a new European Union member, hides big social problems the bloc's highest rate of registered HIV infections, highest proportion of people in jails and lowest male life expectancy.

As Estonians prepare to vote in parliamentary elections on March 4, political parties are talking about the economy, higher salaries and lower taxes rather than the problems which blight the lives of the country's 1.3 million people.

''The politicians talk about how good the economic situation is, but no one has been talking about the high HIV rate,'' said Sirle Blumberg from the Estonian AIDS Prevention Centre.

''Estonia is like a ship that is leaning to one side, the economy is going well, but the social side has been left behind,'' she said.

Such problems were highlighted by a recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study on the Baltic state.

Despite glowing reports about economic freedom and government budgets in surplus, the UNDP estimated HIV prevalence is the EU's highest at 1.3 percent of the population in 2005. By the end of 2006 there were 5,635 registered HIV cases and 125 AIDS cases in a population of just 1.3 million.

In a small country like Estonia, people who are HIV positive are cautious about identifying themselves.

Slava, head of a group providing support for people diagnosed as HIV positive, did not want to give his full name.

''The situation in Estonia is not good,'' he told Reuters, speaking at a drop-in centre for HIV and AIDS sufferers. ''We have two new HIV positive cases per day in Estonia and it is no longer just drug users and other risk groups it is 50 per cent from heterosexual contact.'' The fear of discrimination is so strong that members of the centre's counselling group always want full details of others who wish to join, to make sure they are genuine.

Blumberg said one worrying issue was the spread of HIV from drug users and prostitutes to mainstream 25- to 40-year-olds.

''We have good specialists talking about this, but I think those in power and decision-makers are not listening to the specialists, who speak the truth,'' she said.

Campaign Pledges

Despite finding new ways to use and develop information technology, such as being the world's first country to vote over the Internet ahead of polling day, Estonians have relatively low life expectancy.

According to the UNDP report and figures from the EU statistics office Eurostat, Estonian males have one of the lowest life expectancies in the EU at just over 65 compared with an average of 75.6 for the 25 countries that were members in 2004. Sweden had the highest at 78.4.

The UNDP also reported that Estonia had 333 prison inmates per 100,000 people, the highest ratio in the EU.

Few of the parties contesting the election have policies on HIV-AIDS, but all have general pledges to increase wealth.

The Reform Party, led by Prime Minister Andus Ansip, says it aims to make Estonia one of the five richest nations in the EU by 2015. The Centre Party, the other main coalition group, wants to raise wages for public sector workers and pensions.

These two parties are likely to form the core of a new coalition after the election, opinion polls have shown.

The upswing of recent years, with the economy expanding by more than 11 percent a quarter since late 2005 and property prices soaring, has sharply reduced unemployment. Some areas, such as construction, have labour shortages.

But some cannot benefit from the demand for labour, particularly those recently released from jail, said Imbi Eesmet, who runs a municipality-funded shelter in Tallinn.

''Yes, we are seeing more people in their 40s and 50s wanting to stay in the shelter at night,'' she told Reuters.

''The problem is that they have no skills. We can give them counselling for social skills, but they are unqualified for the jobs and have no way to get the skills they need,'' she added.

The lack of attention to social issues has got some worried.

''It seems the main question is: what will happen when the frantic economic success comes to an end? Crime, HIV, and the short life expectancy will not just disappear,'' the newspaper Postimees said in a recent editorial.

''On the contrary after the rose-coloured economic indicators fade, the tragic statistics will become even more evident,'' it added.

Reuters>