By Ugnė Jonaitytė, LRT.lt.

A recent commentary by Estonian political scientist Tonis Saarts has stirred discussion about regional rivalries, after suggesting that Lithuania has overtaken Estonia in areas where Tallinn once set the pace.

In a column for Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR, Saarts reviewed 150 years of Baltic economic development. He noted that before World War One, Latvia was the region’s most advanced economy, while Estonia lagged and Lithuania trailed even further behind. At the end of the 19th century, literacy in Lithuania stood at just 50 percent compared with 95 percent in Estonia and Latvia, he wrote.

By the late 1930s, Latvia and Estonia had largely equalised in terms of prosperity, Saarts argued, while Lithuania remained “hopelessly behind”. Paradoxically, he added, Soviet rule transformed Lithuania into an industrial economy, narrowing the gap with its neighbours by the late 1980s.

In the post-independence period, Saarts said, Estonia benefited from rapid free-market reforms and foreign investment, particularly from Scandinavia, while Lithuania and Latvia were held back by corruption and oligarchic structures. In recent years, however, Lithuania has pressed ahead with industrial policy, earlier investments in the energy sector, a more diverse export base, and more effective industrial policy and use of European Union funds.

The piece, which was intended primarily for Estonian readers, touched a nerve in Lithuania, where excerpts circulated widely on social media. Critics argued that the framing leaned too heavily on stereotypes of Lithuania as historically “backward” and suggested the comparison was more about Estonia’s own insecurities.

Read more: LRT.LT