%D 2019 %X Life expectancy in Estonia and Finland have developed in different ways from the 1950s until now. Estonia had a different trajectory in the epidemiological transition than Finland. Factors explaining this difference are economical and political. The role of health care is also important in this thesis; more specifically the role of amenable mortality. Finland has developed much more steadily in terms of life expectancy as part of the Scandinavian welfare states. Where Estonia had a much more spiky trajectory, similar to other post-communist countries. Amenable mortality is and has been higher in Estonia ever since the 1970s and had a major peak in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Estonia has been converging towards Finland in terms of life expectancy in more recent years, however. %L theses_frw921 %A E.A. van der Hoeven %T Life expectancy in welfare state Finland and post-communist Estonia: a comparison