Estonia also relies on a government-run technology infrastructure, called X-Road, that links public and private databases into the country’s digital services. All personal information is kept on separate servers and behind distinct security walls of government agencies, but the system allows the state and businesses like banks to share data when individuals give consent.

Estonia’s willingness to use digital products sets it apart from France and Germany, where people have objected to keeping data online. Estonians have embraced the concept. The country’s systems have recorded few serious security breaches that could test people’s faith. And many residents say the online services are more secure and more convenient than traditional methods of dealing with the government.

Now, about 98 percent of people file their income taxes online through an automated system that takes roughly five minutes to complete, said Marek Helm, who leads Estonia’s tax and customs authority. That has increased overall tax compliance, cut his agency’s staff in half, to 1,500 employees, and allowed the government to issue tax refunds within a week.

The transition to a digital life has come with a few hiccups.

Estonia’s online medical portal routinely crashed after digital prescriptions were introduced in 2010 because retirees — the main users of regular prescriptions — kept signing into the system to renew their medication on the day they all received monthly social security payments. And some local politicians have voiced concerns that the introduction of Internet voting in 2005 has led to suspicions of election fraud.

But Estonians largely view the country’s digital services as the standard way of interacting with the government and local companies — a far cry from the rest of Europe. Citizens are more concerned about frequent government requests for online information than they are about privacy, said Siim Sikkut, a technology adviser to the Estonian government. To prevent people from being bombarded for information, Estonia passed a law that required the authorities to ask only once for specific data, like someone’s date of birth. That means local agencies and companies are legally obliged to share basic information when requested, to make it easier for people to use online services.

“If we had a centralized system, it would be a privacy concern,” said Taavi Kotka, Estonia’s chief information officer, during a recent walk through the picturesque center of Tallinn. “But nobody has the whole picture. Everything is separate, but connected.”

The country now wants to take its digital services global by signing up people living outside Europe for so-called “e-residency” that would give people anywhere in the world access to Estonia’s public and private online services.