The Baltic States or Baltica consists of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. All were annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and separated from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Since the conversion to capitalism after 1989, the population of Estonia has fallen from 1.55m to 1.33m, Latvia from 2.67m to 1.89m and Lithuania from 3.67m to 2.81m. Viewed as a whole, the Baltic population has fallen from a high of 7.89m in 1989 to today's figure of 6.03m representing a drop of over 23%, yet the abandoned by these people is prime real estate for NATO in its quest for European supremacy.
All three regimes were accepted into NATO in 2004.