After 1991, despite shortages of both people and money, Estonia decided to build the state on digital foundations. The keys became the mandatory electronic identity and the X‑Road interoperability layer, which connected authorities, businesses, and citizens into a single functioning ecosystem. Today, all public services are online — including divorce — and many processes already operate automatically.
The ID card as the key to the state
Estonia introduced the electronic ID card in 2002 and made it mandatory so that all citizens would have equal access to services. It took inspiration from Finland, but unlike Finland it did not leave it voluntary, to prevent services from being bypassed through bank identities. The goal was clear: to link every public act to this document; alongside the physical card there is also the SIM‑card Mobile‑ID and the Smart‑ID app.
PIN codes are strictly personal and citizens are constantly reminded never to share them. Although the card contains a chip, it does not store data on itself; the eID serves as a secure “key” and a consent tool for access to data that remain in various registers. In practice, this means e‑prescriptions at the pharmacy, travel in the Schengen area without the need for a passport for many, and even using the ID as a loyalty card in stores.
X‑Road and the eras of digitalization
Data in Estonia are stored in a decentralized way in thousands of databases in both the public and private sectors. X‑Road is the infrastructure that enables the exchange of information only between authorized entities, with the eID as the gateway for granting access. For a tax return, the citizen logs in via eID, grants the tax authority the right to pre‑fill the form, and then confirms it electronically.
Digitalization has gone through three stages: first, paper was turned into PDFs and sent by e‑mail; then came digital transformation, when the citizen enters data directly into the system and the way authorities operate changes. The post‑digital era opens up potential, in which processes can be fully automated. An Estonian example: after a child is born, it is enough to enter the name in the population register and the state automatically offers parental benefits without any further applications.
