Country Estonia Area 3,364 km2 | Capital Johvi | |
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Destinations Narva, Johvi, Kohtla-Jarve, Sillamae, Kivioli | ||
Map of Ida-Viru County
Ida-Viru County (Estonian: Ida-Viru maakond), or Ida-Virumaa, is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is the most north-eastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of oil shale - the main mineral mined in Estonia. As oil shale is used in thermal power plants, the earth in Ida-Viru contains most of Estonia's energy resources. The capital of the county is the town of Jõhvi which is administratively united with the Jõhvi Parish. In January 2016 Ida-Viru County had a population of 146,506 – constituting 12.6% of the total population in Estonia.
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History
During the latter part of the period of Soviet rule of Estonia, Ida-Virumaa was called Kohtla-Järve district, and its administrative capital was Kohtla-Järve.
County Government
The County Government (Estonian: Maavalitsus) is led by a Governor (Estonian: maavanem), who is appointed by the country's government for a term of five years. The current governor of Ida-Viru county is Andres Noormägi.
Demographics
In January 2017, the population of Ida-Virumaa was 143,880, which makes it the third largest county in Estonia (after Harjumaa, which includes Tallinn and Tartumaa ). 44.6% of the population are men and 55.4% women.
By ethnic origin, on 1 January 2017, 73.1% of the population were Russians, 18.9% were Estonians, 2.3% were Ukrainians, 2.1% were Belarusians and 0.9% were Finns. This is dramatically different from the rest of Estonia, where most counties are over 80% ethnic Estonian.
Municipalities
The county is subdivided into municipalities. There are 5 urban municipalities (Estonian: linnad - cities) and 15 rural municipalities (Estonian: vallad - parishes) in Ida-Viru County. There are 217 villages in Ida-Virumaa.
Urban municipalities:
Rural municipalities: