Safety in Estonia

do you feel safe in Estonia?

I feel safer in Estonia than in the US. In overall general terms. I have lived in Tartu (second largest city) and Tallinn (the capital) over the last 5 years. The country has its crime like any country. Generally speaking overall, Tartu is safer than Tallinn. This is primarily because of the size of the two cities.

How would you define the level of safety in the country?

In the country as a whole - I'd rate it not quite as safe as Sweden or Finland, but safer than Poland, Germany, Latvia, or Lithuania. Guns are normally not an issue here, and people for the most part mind their own business.

In Tartu, You can walk freely anywhere without any feelings of threat, however in Tallinn, there are parts of town where you can feel somewhat uneasy, but if you compare this to the US and major cities in the US, it is still way more relaxed

Can you walk safely during the day and at night without any fear?

Almost anywhere during the day you can feel safe in Estonia. At night, in Tartu, it's not really all that bad. In Tallinn, at night, there are many things that would make you feel concerned, but most of these are just the sight of people acting strangely, when for the most part, these people are usually harmless as long as you keep your distance.

Do you think there is a high rate of criminality, social problems or tensions?

I think the crime rate is relatively low. The hardest part to get used to is passing by on the street and seeing the occasional man or homeless man passed out on the sidewalk. That gets kind of annoying. Some people try to stir up trouble between the Russian population and Estonian population, but if you live here, these people of different ethnic backgrounds (in my opinion) co-habitate just fine, despite any social history or injustices that have taken place. Among the younger generation, there is more integration and less tension. If you are among the older generation, this tension may seem more prevalent. Criminality at most usually is related to drunken fights that take place on the streets in the middle of the night, but I emphasize that this usually only takes place in areas where you're not likely to spend your time. If you look for trouble, you will find it. That applies to anywhere in the world.

In Estonia, parents allow their children to take public transportation to school, or walk to school, usually with no hard feelings to their childrens' safety. If you are unfamiliar with the country, it's natural to feel threatened to being an outsider, but it is not unsafe in the sense that it can or may look that way. Some of the buildings are old, some are decrepit, yet they even too have just normal people living in them.

I feel pretty safe walking the streets of Tallinn day or night.. I think it's a combination of the police doing their job and me being aware of my surroundings and situation.. I've never found weapons of any type to be a problem - just the wielder. The only unwanted attention i get is from bums and beggars, but that's pretty rampant in the US as well, so I'm used to it..