Rural municipality (Estonia)

A municipality (Estonian: omavalitsus, plural omavalitsused) is the smallest administrative subdivision of Estonia. Each municipality is a unit of self-government with its representative and executive bodies. The municipalities in Estonia cover the entire territory of the country.

Municipalities in Estonia are of two types: urban municipalities or towns (linnad, singular linn) and rural municipalities or parishes (vallad, singular vald). There is no other status distinction between them.

Municipality may contain one or several settlements. All urban municipalities plus 6 rural municipalities contain only one settlement. Of the latter six, 5 are so-called "borough-parishes", consisting of one borough, while Ruhnu Parish consists of one village.

Some municipalities are divided into districts. The 8 urban districts (linnaosad, singular linnaosa) of Tallinn have limited self-government, while other urban districts are formed for administrative purposes. Some rural districts (osavallad) have limited self-government, while other types of rural districts do not.

Municipalities range in population from Tallinn with 427,500 inhabitants to Ruhnu with 68. As over two-thirds of the municipalities have a population of under 3,000, many of them have found it advantageous to co-operate in providing services and carrying out administrative functions.

Currently, since 12 December 2014, there are total of 213 municipalities, 30 of which are urban and 183 rural. By county, these are:

23 municipalities (6 urban, 17 rural)

Urban municipalities:

Rural municipalities:

4 rural municipalities

Rural municipalities:

20 municipalities (5 urban, 15 rural)

Urban municipalities:

Rural municipalities:

12 municipalities (1 urban, 11 rural)

Urban municipalities:

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Wikipedia