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Pärnu County

*Pärnumaa*
Pärnu County Pärnumaa
County
	Flag Coat of arms
Country	Estonia
Capital	Pärnu
Area
• Total	4,806.68 km2 (1,855.87 sq mi)
Population (2022)
• Total	85,705
• Rank	4th
• Density	18/km2 (46/sq mi)
Ethnicity
• Estonians	89.5%
• Russians	6.8%
• other	3.3%
GDP
• Total	€1.587 billion (2022)
• Per capita	€18,334 (2022)
ISO 3166 code	EE-68
Vehicle registration	F
Website	www.parnumaa.ee

Pärnu County (Estonian: Pärnu maakond or Pärnumaa; German: Kreis Pernau) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in the south-western part of the country, on the coast of Gulf of Riga, and borders Lääne and Rapla counties to the north, Järva and Viljandi counties to the east, and Latvia to the south. In 2022, Pärnu County had a population of 85,705 – constituting 6.4% of the total population of Estonia.^[1]

Pärnu County is the largest county of Estonia in terms of land area.

History

In Pärnu county, there is the oldest known human settlement in Estonia, which is the town of Sindi, and it is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) up the Pärnu River, near the village of Pulli. It dates back to 8500 BCE in the Mesolithic historical period.

County government

The administrative reform in Estonia abolished county governments by the end of 2017. Before that, counties were led by a governor, who was appointed by the Government of Estonia for a term of five years.

Previous county governors:

1993–2009: Toomas Kivimägi
2010–2015: Andres Metsoja
2015–2017: Kalev Kaljuste

Tourism

The city of Pärnu is a popular holiday resort for Estonians and increasingly for non-Estonians, e.g., from Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Russia.

Municipalities

The county is subdivided into municipalities. There is one urban municipality (Estonian: linnad – towns) and six rural municipalities (Estonian: vallad – parishes) in Pärnu County.

Rank	Municipality	Type	Population (2018)^[3]	Area km²^[3]	Density^[3]
1	Häädemeeste Parish	Rural	4,985	494	10.1
2	Kihnu Parish	Rural	702	17	41.3
3	Lääneranna Parish	Rural	5,494	1,352	4.1
4	Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish	Rural	8,435	1,013	8.3
5	Pärnu	Urban	51,649	855	60.4
6	Saarde Parish	Rural	4,722	1,065	4.4
7	Tori Parish	Rural	11,694	611	19.1

Religion

Religion in Pärnu County (2021) [1]

Unaffiliated (80.2%)

Lutheran (9.2%)

Orthodox (7.0%)

Others Christians (1.7%)

Others Religions or Unknown (1.9%)

Religious affiliations in Parnü County, census 2000–2021*^[4]
Religion	2000		2011		2021
Religion	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Christianity	17,466	23.7	13,425	19.2	12,850	17.8
—Orthodox Christians	5,473	7.4	5,008	7.2	5,030	7.0
—Lutherans	10,899	14.8	7,274	10.4	6,590	9.2
—Catholics	208	0.2	157	0.2	170	0.2
—Baptists	323	0.4	219	0.3	180	0.2
—Jehovah's Witnesses	159	0.2	198	0.2	170	0.2
—Pentecostals	216	0.2	151	0.2	140	0.1
—Old Believers	9	0.01	14	0.02	-	-
—Methodists	71	0.09	54	0.07	90	0.1
—Adventists	108	0.1	77	0.1	60	0.08
—Other Christians	-	-	273	0.3	420	0.5
Islam	28	0.03	32	0.05	150	0.2
Buddhism	-	-	81	0.1	150	0.2
Other religions**	359	0.4	576	0.2	1,020	1.4
No religion	30,849	42.0	45,062	64.7	49,220	68.4
Not stated***	24,785	33.7	10,412	14.9	8,510	11.8
Total population*	73,487		69,587		71,950
*The censuses of Estonia count the religious affiliations of the population older than 15 years of age.^[4] ".^[4]