Ida-Viru County ( or ; ) is one of the 15

counties of Estonia The counties of Estonia () 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 () were abolished at the end of 2017, with their ...

. It is the most northeastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

the main

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

mined in Estonia. Oil shale is used in the production of

shale oil Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil c ...

and in

thermal power plant A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

s. The capital of the county is the town of

Jõhvi Jõhvi ( ; ; ) is a town in northeastern Estonia, and the administrative seat of Ida-Viru County and Jõhvi Parish. The town is located about 50 km west of the Estonia–Russia international border. History Jõhvi was first mentioned as ...

which is administratively united with the

Jõhvi Parish Jõhvi Parish () is an Estonian municipality located in Ida-Viru County, consisting of the county capital Jõhvi and its environs. It has a population of 13,174 (2006) and an area of . Settlements Towns Jõhvi Small boroughs Tammiku Villages ...

; nevertheless,

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

is the largest town in the county in terms of population and at the same time the third largest city in Estonia after

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

and

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. In January 2019 Ida-Viru County had a population of 136,240 – constituting 10.3% of the total population in Estonia. It borders

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( or ''Lääne-Virumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. In Estonian, ''lääne'' means western and ''ida'' means east or eastern. Lääne-Viru borders Id ...

in the west,

Jõgeva County Jõgeva County ( or ''Jõgevamaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in eastern part of the country and borders Ida-Viru County to the north-east, Lake Peipus to the east, Tartu County to the south, Viljandi County to the south-we ...

in the southwest and Russia (

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

) in the east. It is the only county in Estonia where

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

constitute the majority of population (73.1% in 2010), the second highest being Harju (28%).

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 Kohtla-Järve () is a city and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of ...

County Government A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) ''Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denotin ...

(), led by a

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

(), ceased to exist after administrative reform in 2017. The last governor of Ida-Viru county was Andres Noormägi.

Demographics

In January 2017, the population of Ida-Virumaa was 143,880, which makes it the third largest county in Estonia (after Harju and

counties, which include the capital

and country's second-largest city

). 44.6% of the population are men and 55.4% women. By January 2020, the population of Ida-Virumaa had decreased to 134,259, of which 33% were of native origin and 67% of foreign origin. As a result of migration, Ida-Viru County is now the only county in Estonia where ethnic

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

s have become a majority. By ethnic origin, on 1 January 2017, 73.1% of the population were

, 18.9% were

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...

, 2.3% were

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

, 2.1% were

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

and 0.9% were

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

. According to Estonian 2021 census population of Ida-Virumaa was 132,741. By ethnic origin 97,231 (73.25%) were

, 24,490 (18.45%) were

, 3,265 (2.46%)

, 2,720 (2.05%) were

, and 1,065 (0.80%) were

. Estonians are predominant in the more rural parishes to the west of country - Alutaguse (69.47%), Toila (64.27%) and Lüganuse (55.07%)

Religion

The following congregations of the

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC; Estonian: ''Eesti Evangeelne Luterlik Kirik'', abbreviated EELK) is a Lutheran church in Estonia. The EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation and belongs to the Community of Protestant Ch ...

(EELC) operate in Ida-Viru County under Viru Deanery of EELC: Iisaku congregation, Illaku congregation, Jõhvi congregation, Lüganuse congregation, Narva congregation, Narva-Jõesuu congregation, Pühajõe congregation and Tudulinna congregation. Regarding

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

, the following Orthodox congregations operate under the jurisdiction of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate: Alajõe, Jaama, Jõhvi, Kiviõli, Kohtla-Järve, Lohusuu, Vasknarva, the congregation of the Narva Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ and three other Orthodox parishes in the city of Narva and two congregations in Narva-Jõesuu. A Russian Orthodox convent -

Pühtitsa Convent Pühtitsa Convent (Estonian: Kuremäe Jumalaema Uinumise nunnaklooster, Russian: Пюхтицкий Успенский женский монастырь) is a Russian Orthodox convent in Eastern Estonia (Ida-Viru County) between Lake Peipus and ...

is located in Ida-Viru County. The congregations belonging to the

Catholic Church in Estonia The Catholic Church in Estonia () is the national branch of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. History of Catholicism in Estonia At the beginning of the 13th century, Estonia was conquered by the ...

that operate in Ida-Viru County are: Ahtme, Narva, Sillamäe, Kiviõli and Sompa and Kohtla-Järve.

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

congregations operating in Ida-Viru County: Kiviõli, Sillamäe, four congregations in the city of Kohtla-Järve and two congregations in Narva. Of the other Christian churches, there are four Methodist congregations, one Pentecostal congregation, two Adventist congregations and one Jehovah's Witnesses congregation.

Municipalities

Ida-Virumaa County is subdivided into eight

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

, of which four are urban ( — cities or towns) and four are rural ( —

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

). There are 217 villages in Ida-Virumaa. Ida-Viru municipalities 2017

Landmarks

File:Kuremäe nunnaklooster 2014 01.jpg,

File:Uljaste järv oktoobris.jpg, Lake Uljaste File:Ida-Viru Tuhamäed.JPG, Ash hills in Ida-Viru County File:Avinurme kirik.JPG,

Avinurme Avinurme () is a small borough (') in Mustvee Parish Jõgeva County northeastern Estonia. It was the administrative centre of Avinurme Parish Avinurme Parish was a rural municipality of Ida-Viru County in northern Estonia. It had a populatio ...

church File:Selisoo raba, Ida-Virumaa.JPG, Selisoo bog File:Narva, Hermann Castle.jpg,

Hermann Castle Hermann Castle, also known as the Narva castle or Narva fortress, is a medieval castle in the city of Narva, in northeastern Estonia. The castle was established around 1256, when the area was part of the Danish Realm. The first entirely stone f ...

File:Mäetaguse mõisa peahoone.jpg,

Mäetaguse Mäetaguse () is a Populated places in Estonia, small borough (') in Ida-Viru County in Alutaguse Parish in northeastern Estonia. It was the administrative centre of Mäetaguse Parish. As of the 2011 Estonian census, 2011 census, the settlement' ...

manor house File:Sillamäe 2008 2.jpg,

Sillamäe Sillamäe (Estonian for 'Bridge Hill'; also known by the Germanised names of ''Sillamäggi'' or ''Sillamägi'') is a town in Ida-Viru County in the northeastern part of Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. It has a population o ...

town hall

References

External links

Ida-Virumaa Tourism PortalIda-Virumaa Portal
{{coord, 59, 13, N, 27, 18, E, type:adm1st_region:EE, display=title Counties of Estonia Russian communities