Ruhnu Parish (

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

: ''Ruhnu vald'') is a

municipality 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' ...

Saare County Saare County ( or ''Saaremaa''; ; ; ; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It consists of Saaremaa, the largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it, most notably Muhu, Ruhnu, Abruka and Vilsandi. The county borders Lääne Count ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. It encompasses the island of

Ruhnu Ruhnu (; ; ) is an Estonian island in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. Its territory of is administratively part of Saare County, Saare ''maakond'' (county). Ruhnu lies geographically closer to the coast of Courland on the mainland of Latvia ...

in the

Gulf of Riga The Gulf of Riga, Bay of Riga, or Gulf of Livonia (, , ) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Estonia) partially separates it from the rest of the Baltic Sea. The main connection between the gulf and t ...

, together with a number of uninhabited

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s. Its population is the smallest of any of Estonia's 79 municipalities, the parish being exempt from the usual minimum population size of 5000. There are 60 permanent inhabitants during winter time; in summer the number increases to 150. In 2015 the parish council approved Ado Tuuga's designs for the municipality's flag and coat of arms. The parish has only one village, Ruhnu village, in the centre of the island. There is a school, museum, library, two shops, two churches, first-aid point and local marine rescue team. In the southern part of the island near Ringsu cape, there is a weather station, airfield, diesel electric power station, harbour and cultural centre. In 2018, a 150 kilowatt

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

plant was completed near the airfield. Following the reconstruction of a wind turbine,

renewables Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind power, and hydropower. Bioenergy and ...

will account for more than half of the electricity produced on the island. Ruhnu rural municipality was formed on 19 December 1991. Of all the parishes in Estonia, it has one of the biggest percentages of young people under the age of 29, and the smallest percentage of people older than 65. The biggest employer is the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

, with tourism also increasing. Six families are active in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

- beekeeping, cattle and sheep farming and arable crops such as

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seed ...

and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

. 60% of the land in Ruhnu Parish is currently in the ownership of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

citizens, the descendants of the pre-war ethnic Swedish population. Ruhnu was part of Saaremaa district until 1950 when the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

authorities transferred it to

Pärnu district Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

. It was again assigned to Saaremaa in 1986. In 2016

Estonian Public Broadcasting Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...

reported the possibility of Ruhnu Parish returning to the jurisdiction of Pärnu. In 2013 Ruhnu's parish council discussed a proposal to merge the island's administration with the City of Tallinn.

Photographs of Ruhnu Parish

Ruhnu, 2002. septembris - panoramio.jpg, File:Pastoraadi peahoone Ruhnul.JPG, File:Ruhnu Püha Magdaleena kirik 09.jpg,

References

{{Islands in the Baltic Sea Ruhnu Municipalities of Estonia