Population of counties after administrative reform
Statistics Estonia recalculated the population of counties in 2017 according to the administrative division in place after this year’s local government elections.
After the administrative reform, 79 of the previous 213 municipalities remained. Of these, 28 had no change, but 10 former rural municipalities were divided between two or more municipalities. In the case of counties, there change was smaller. There are still 15 counties in Estonia, but the area and population of the majority of these have changed. The borders did not change for Hiiu, Saare and Viljandi counties. Harju county borders are also the same after the administrative reform, but compared to the beginning of the year, there is one village less in Harju county. After the administrative reform, Lääne county lost the most area.
Population increased the most in Tartu (+3,700), Pärnu (+3,600) and Võru (+2,900) counties and decreased the most in Lääne (-3,600), Ida-Viru (-3,500) and Põlva (-2,400) counties. The largest population share was lost by Lääne county (17%), followed by Põlva county (9%). In the new borders, the population increase was largest in Võru county (8%).
More detailed data have been published in the statistical database. For the statistical activity “Population”, the main representative of public interest is the Ministry of Social Affairs, commissioned by whom Statistics Estonia analyses the data necessary for conducting the statistical activity.