---
title: "Estonia now has 100,000 digital residents"
id: "69733"
type: "post"
slug: "estonia-now-has-100000-digital-residents"
published_at: "2023-02-22T23:30:29+00:00"
modified_at: "2023-02-22T23:30:31+00:00"
url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonia-now-has-100000-digital-residents/"
markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonia-now-has-100000-digital-residents.md"
excerpt: "The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board has issued the 100,000th digital residency ID card; known as the e-residency, the programme that enables foreign citizens to […]"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Business"
publisher: "Estonian World"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Silver Tambur"
author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/"
---

# Estonia now has 100,000 digital residents

![Edward Lucas, Estonia's first e-resident, in 2023. Photo by Marek Metslaid.](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Edward-Lucas-Estonias-first-e-resident-in-2023.-Photo-by-Marek-Metslaid.-1024x682.jpg)

Edward Lucas, Estonia's first e-resident, in 2023. Photo by Marek Metslaid.

By  [Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
  ·  February 22, 2023  · [Business](https://estonianworld.com/category/business/)
 · 2 minutes of reading

### The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board has issued the 100,000th digital residency ID card; known as the e-residency, the programme that enables foreign citizens to launch a company in Estonia and thus in the EU, was launched in 2014.

The Estonian state-run e-residency programme was launched with the aim of providing foreign nationals safe access to Estonia’s public digital services, while also promoting cross-border entrepreneurship and generating extra revenue for the national budget.

According to the programme, the digital residents have come from 176 different countries and generated over €150 million of state revenue for Estonia in taxes and fees.

[https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/e-Residency-Digital-ID-Card-Kit_e-Residency-6-scaled.jpg](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/e-Residency-Digital-ID-Card-Kit_e-Residency-6-scaled.jpg)

Estonia’s e-residency digital ID card kit; photo by e-residency programme.

### Estonia’s “ambassadors”

Lauri Haav, the managing director of the programme, said the e-residents were also considered Estonia’s “ambassadors”.

“They spread information about Estonia in their networks and share our digital know-how in other parts of the world, thereby boosting Estonia’s image and influence as an innovative digital nation,” Haav said in a statement.

Edward Lucas, at the time the senior editor of The Economist and a great fan of Estonia, became the first e-resident on 1 December 2014.

“As a secure digital state, Estonia remains several steps ahead of other countries. The e-residency programme has made a tremendous contribution to Estonia’s international reputation, boosting the country’s brand value and enhancing its security, particularly in today’s circumstances,” Lucas said in a statement, marking the milestone on 22 February.

## About The Author

![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/2/1572652467-bpfull-100x100.jpg)

[Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
Silver Tambur, co-founder and publisher of *Estonian World*, studied journalism at the University of Tartu and politics at Birkbeck, University of London. He has edited Estonian Public Broadcasting’s English news and contributed to *Business Sense*, *Deutsche Welle*, and *Radio New Zealand*. He is currently editor-in-chief of *Trialoog*, TalTech’s business and research portal. You can also follow him on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SilverTambur)
 and like [his page on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/silvertamburpage/)
. You can write to Silver at [silver@estonianworld.com](mailto:silver@estonianworld.com)
.