The Estonian Land Board has discovered that the total area of Estonia’s landmass is 45,339 square kilometres instead of the previously calculated figure of 45,227, ERR News reports.
The difference is due to technology – the previous calculations were made on paper maps, whereas recent technological developments allowed the Estonian Land Board to use electronic data which provides more accurate figures. On the old maps, dating back almost 20 years, the borders were marked with a pen, which resulted in a rather low accuracy of 50 meters. As the correction mainly involves land areas bordering the sea, lakes and rivers, Tallinn and Narva were both found to be larger than previously thought.
The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and over 1,500 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, now covering 45,339 square kilometres. This makes Estonia the 132nd largest country in the world – only slightly bigger than Denmark, Netherlands and Switzerland.
