Valgamaa

Valga County
County of Estonia
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Estonia
Capital	Valga
Government
• Governor	Margus Lepik
Area
• Total	2,043.53 km2 (789.01 sq mi)
Population (01.01.2015)
• Total	29,944
• Density	14.7/km2 (38/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	EE-82
Vehicle registration	G
Website	www.valgamaa.ee

Valga County (Estonian: Valga maakond), or Valgamaa is the first-level administrative unit in Estonia and one of 15 counties of Estonia. It comprises the former area of Valga District. The present-day county was created on 1 January 1990. The capital and the biggest town of Valga County is Valga, followed by Tõrva and Otepää. It is situated in southern part of the country and borders Põlva County and Võru County to the east, Latvia to the south and to the west, Viljandi County and Tartu County to the north. 29,944 people live in Valga County (as of 1 January 2015).

Valga County is located in the southern part of Estonia. By the economic-geographical and regional-political distribution it belongs to the area of South-East Estonia (together with Põlva and Võru County). By historical ties and landscape the county belongs to the region of South Estonia (together with Põlva, Võru, Viljandi, Tartu and Jõgeva Counties). The total area of the county is 2,043.53 km² (2,046.49 km² together with the area of Võrtsjärv), with the population of 30,176 people (as of 1 January 2014), it reaches the north-south direction of 65 km and east-west direction of 59 km. Valga County ranks the 12th in Estonia by population and the 14th by the area.

The distances from the county centre, Valga, are the following: Tallinn 267 km, Tartu 86 km, Viljandi 88 km, Võru 73 km, Põlva 96 km, Pärnu 141 km, Narva 264 km and Riga 157 km.

Valga County borders with Viljandi County in the north-west, with Tartu County in the north and Põlva and Võru County in the east. Valga County has a borderline with the Republic of Latvia in the south and west (102.4 km).

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Wikipedia