Country: Estonia
Distance: 468 km
Travel time: 3 days
On postcard: Ida-Virumaa
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 literally holds the largest power capacity in Estonia. The capital of the county is the town of Jõhvi which is administratively united with the Jõhvi Parish. 168,656 people live in Ida-Viru County – constituting 12.6% of the total population in Estonia (as of January 2010).
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. Since August 2004 the governor's position is held by Ago Silde. The current governor of Ida-Viru county is Riho Breivel.
Municipalities
The county is subdivided into municipalities. There are 6 urban municipalities (Estonian: linnad - towns) and 16 rural municipalities (Estonian: vallad - parishes) in Ida-Viru County. There are 217 villages in Ida-Virumaa.
