Complicated Picture in Tallinn
About the author: Laura Bocek ’24 is an FSI Global Policy Intern with the International Centre for Defence and Security. She is currently studying at Stanford University.
Tallinn is awash with refugees from the war in Ukraine. Some are well-off Russians seeking to escape their country before the economy takes a downturn. Most are Ukrainians. Luckily Estonia and the city of Tallinn seem to be responding well to the horrific humanitarian crisis and war. Ukrainian flags, logos, and slogans pepper the city. Free admission to museums, daycares, and schools are available for many Ukrainian refugees. Temporary residency permits are granted to any refugee. Just a month ago, Estonian language classes opened for those with temporary residency permits. Every night Freedom Square, which commemorates the Estonian victory against the Bolsheviks to establish independence, lights up in a dazzle of blue and yellow.
Despite the bright colors, not everything is peachy. In a city of roughly half a million, the massive influx of refugees has strained everything. Inflation is skyrocketing and is the worst in the European Union, by some measurements. Rents alone have increased by 50%. When searching for a place to live, it took me hundreds of emails to find a place that was open. In response, the government moored one of the Tallink ferries that normally carries travelers on a Helsinki-Tallinn route to house 1000 refugees. On any given day, the ferry bustles with social workers, refugees, and employers. It allows for resettlement social services to be concentrated. Unfortunately, many Ukrainians are stuck on the ferry unable to find accommodation in the city.
Exacerbating housing issues is the massive population of foreign workers in Tallinn. Over 100,000 expats live in Tallinn, which constitutes a huge proportion of the population. The expat community in Tallinn is continuing to grow, despite affordability problems, because of technology-sector salaries. Foreign workers in Estonia generally have no problem accommodating the rise in prices, so the burden of rising prices generally falls on the local Estonian population. Unfortunately, wages are simply not keeping up with inflation. Estonian friends have consistently expressed doubt to me whether they will be able to make ends meet this year.
Energy prices have skyrocketed as well, which increased prices of consumer goods across the board. A few weeks ago, Estonia saw the highest electricity prices in its history. Luckily, the mild summer weather has not required air conditioning or additional energy expenditure yet, but the bitter Estonian winter is coming. A recession looms on the horizon for Estonia. Everyone can feel it. The same thought rings through everyone’s minds and almost daily in conversations: “This winter is going to be hard.”
