What are the Baltic countries

When talking about the Baltic countries, sometimes, confusion may arise in a conversation. Although the Baltic countries are those that surround the Baltic Sea, it can happen that two people are referring to two different things when talking about them and that both are right. Is this possible? It is, and the reason for this is that, depending on the context in which we are moving, the Baltic countries may be one or the other. Do you want to know what the Baltic countries are in different contexts? In this article we explain everything to you, keep reading!

Political definition of the Baltic countries

If we stick to the political definition, the Baltic countries are formed by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are the three countries whose coasts are only bathed by the Baltic Sea . Within this definition can be refined a little more: culturally, ethnically and linguistically, Estonia is not considered Baltic people, having more affinity with the Finnish people, as well as a language similar to Finnish, Estonian.

However, historically, the Baltic countries had an assigned geographic term, "Balticum", which included the following territories:

  • Lithuania
  • Estonia
  • Livonia
  • Prussia or East Prussia
  • Latvia
  • Courland

Also, before the Second World War, Finland was considered a Baltic country on some occasions, but not so at present.

This definition is the most used nowadays to refer in a general way to these countries without specifying more.

Geographic definition of the Baltic countries

If we look, in this case, at the geographical definition, the list of Baltic countries is different from the previous one and includes the following 11 countries that are around the Baltic Sea :

  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • Russia
  • Kalinigrado (belonging to Russia but in an isolated territory)
  • Norway
  • Estonia
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Denmark
  • Poland
  • Germany

For this classification only the rule that they are around the Baltic Sea is followed, regardless of whether they are bathed by this sea or by another body of water.

Baltic countries in the strict sense

If we refer strictly to the countries that have access to the Baltic Sea, the list of countries is as follows:

  • Estonia
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Denmark
  • Russia
  • Sweden
  • Poland
  • Germany
  • Finland

All these countries are grouped in the Council of Baltic Sea States, to which the countries of Norway and Iceland also belong.

Characteristics and history of the Baltic countries

In this section we are going to refer to the recent history of the considered Baltic countries from the political point of view : Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

The recent history of these countries is marked by World War II. These countries had been sovereign since 1918, the moment when they had become independent from the Russian Empire. However, this independence was lost in the year 1940, when the territory was occupied by the Soviet Union, later by Nazi Germany and, again, occupied by the Soviet Union. They happened to be called Soviet republics by the Soviet Union from that moment, until the year 1991 in which the Sung Revolution took place, through which they achieved their independence. However, most countries considered that this incorporation into the Soviet Union had not been legal, so they did not consider these countries as members of it.

These three countries are part of the European Union since 2004, and their current currency is the euro. However, their currency has not been the euro since they are part of the European Union, but they kept their own currencies for a while. In Estonia, the official currency until January 2011 was the Estonian crown. In Lithuania, the official currency was the Lithuanian litas until the entry into force of the euro in January 2015. In the case of Latvia, the official currency was the Latvian lats until January 2014.