Counties of Estonia - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Regions of Estonia) First-level administrative subdivisions of Estonia

Politics of Estonia


State Constitution Declaration of Independence Human rights
Presidency President Alar Karis
Executive Prime Minister Kaja Kallas Government of Estonia Incumbent cabinet
Legislature Riigikogu Speaker: Lauri Hussar
Judiciary Supreme Court Chancellor of Justice
Elections Political parties Recent elections Riigikogu: 2019 2023 next Presidential: 2016 2021 2026 Municipal: 2013 2017 2021 European: 2014 2019 2024
Administrative divisions Counties Municipalities
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Politics of the European Union
Estonia portal Other countries
v t e

The counties of Estonia (Eesti maakonnad) are the state administrative subdivisions of Estonia. Estonian territory is composed of 15 counties, including 13 on the mainland and 2 on islands. County governments (maavalitsus) were abolished at the end of 2017, with their duties split between state authorities and local governments, and nowadays counties have no noteworthy independent competences. Counties are composed of municipalities of two types: urban municipalities or towns (linnad), and rural municipalities or parishes (vallad), which are by law required to cooperate in development of their county.

List

As of 2023, the sum total of the population figures in the table below is 42,644 km, of which the land area is 42,388 km, so that 256 km of water is included in the figures.

List of counties of Estonia
	County	Capital	Area (km)	Population	Pop. density (per km)	GDP (mil. €)	GDP per capita (€)
1	Harju County	Tallinn	4,327	638,076	147.46	21,680	34,615
2	Hiiu County	Kärdla	1,023	8,474	8.21	146	17,225
3	Ida-Viru County	Jõhvi	2,972	133,358	44.87	2,631	19,778
4	Jõgeva County	Jõgeva	2,545	27,739	10.90	466	16,768
5	Järva County	Paide	2,674	30,072	11.25	610	20,405
6	Lääne County	Haapsalu	1,816	20,688	11.40	320	15,658
7	Lääne-Viru County	Rakvere	3,696	59,608	16.13	1,074	18,150
8	Põlva County	Põlva	2,165	24,036	11.10	347	14,450
9	Pärnu County	Pärnu	5,419	87,418	16.13	1,587	18,334
10	Rapla County	Rapla	2,765	34,038	12.31	540	15,985
11	Saare County	Kuressaare	2,938	31,919	10.86	518	16,380
12	Tartu County	Tartu	2,993	162,390	54.26	4,186	26,151
13	Valga County	Valga	1,917	28,114	14.67	425	15,260
14	Viljandi County	Viljandi	3,422	45,637	13.37	896	19,692
15	Võru County	Võru	2,305	34,317	14.89	584	17,041

History

Main article: History of Estonia

In the first centuries AD, political and administrative subdivisions began to emerge in Estonia. Two larger subdivisions appeared: the parish (kihelkond) and the county (maakond). The parish consisted of several villages. Nearly all parishes had at least one fortress. The defence of the local area was directed by the highest official, the parish elder. The county was composed of several parishes, also headed by an elder. By the 13th century the following major counties had developed in Estonia: Saaremaa (Osilia), Läänemaa (Rotalia or Maritima), Harjumaa (Harria), Rävala (Revalia), Virumaa (Vironia), Järvamaa (Jervia), Sakala (Saccala), and Ugandi (Ugaunia). Additionally there were several smaller elderships in central Estonia where danger of war was smaller – Vaiga, Mõhu, Nurmekund and Alempois. The exact number and borders of some elderships are disputed.

The first documented mentioning of Estonian political and administrative subdivisions comes from the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, written in the 13th century during the Northern Crusades.

The autonomy of the Estonian counties and parishes ended after conquered and divided between Denmark, Livonian Order, Bishopric of Dorpat and Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek. The name of Rävala became Reval, replacing the name of an Estonian town Lindanisse, later Tallinn. Ugandi, Sakala and the smaller elderships disappeared from common usage.

In the 1580s, after the Livonian war as Sweden had conquered Northern Estonia, Harju, Järva, Lääne and Viru counties were officially formed there. Southern Estonia, which belonged to Poland 1582–1625, was divided into voivodships of Pärnu and Tartu; the island of Saaremaa belonged to Denmark until 1645. They all became counties as they went under Swedish rule.

This administrative system mostly remained as Estonia went under Russian rule due to the Great Northern War, ending circa 1721. In 1793 were formed Võru County in the south of Tartumaa, Viljandi County between Tartu and Pärnu counties, and Paldiski County in the west of Harjumaa. In 1796 Paldiski County was joined with Harjumaa again. Until 1888 Võrumaa and Viljandimaa were not wholly independent from Tartumaa and Pärnumaa, respectively.

Several changes were made to the borders of counties after Estonia became independent, most notably the formation of Valga County (from parts of Võru, Tartu and Viljandi counties) and Petseri County (area acquired from Russia with the 1920 Tartu peace treaty).

During Soviet rule, Petseri County became a part of Russia in 1945. Hiiumaa seceded from Läänemaa in 1946, Jõgevamaa from Tartumaa in 1949 and Jõhvimaa (modern Ida-Virumaa) from Virumaa in 1949. Counties were completely dissolved in 1950 as Estonian SSR was divided into raions (rajoonid) and (until 1953) oblasts. Until the 1960s, the borders of raions often changed until 15 of them were left. Out of them, Põlva and Rapla regions became separate, while the others were roughly corresponding to the pre-1950 counties.

Counties were re-established on 1 January 1990 in the borders of the Soviet-era raions. Due to the numerous differences between the current and historical (pre-1940) layouts, the historical borders are still used in ethnology, better representing cultural and linguistic differences.

County governments were abolished at the end of 2017, with their duties split between state authorities and local governments. Nowadays counties have no noteworthy independent competences, but local governments are required by law to work together in developing their county.

References

"RV022U: Population by sex, age group and county, 1 January. administrative division as at 01.01.2018". Statistics Estonia.
"RV022U: POPULATION BY SEX, AGE GROUP AND COUNTY, 1 JANUARY. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION AS AT 01.01.2018". Statistics Estonia. 2021-05-12. Archived from the original on 2021-05-15. Retrieved 2021-08-07.
"Gross Domestic Product by County 2022". stat.ee.
Estonia and the Estonians (Studies of Nationalities) Toivo U. Raun p.11 ISBN 0-8179-2852-9
"Local governments in Estonia" (PDF). Ministry of Finance. pp. 12, 18, 31. Retrieved 18 March 2023.

External links

Local Government Reform Estonian Institute publication

Crime Demographics Education Estonians Estonian language Ethnic groups Healthcare Religion Women
Culture	Anthem Architecture Beer Cinema Coat of arms Cuisine Estonian names Flags Folklore Internet Languages Literature ABD Kalevipoeg Media Music Mythology Name Symbols Newspapers Public holidays Radio Sport Television Theatre

v t e Counties of Estonia
Harjumaa Hiiumaa Ida-Virumaa Järvamaa Jõgevamaa Läänemaa Lääne-Virumaa Pärnumaa Põlvamaa Raplamaa Saaremaa Tartumaa Valgamaa Viljandimaa Võrumaa

v t e First-level administrative divisions in European countries
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria
Table of administrative divisions by country Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent. Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.

Categories:

List

History

See also

References

External links