Municipalities of Estonia

This article is part of the Subdivisions of Estonia series

Counties

Governors

Municipalities

List by population by area by density by wealth

Populated places

Cities and towns Boroughs Small boroughs Villages

NUTS:EE

ISO 3166-2:EE

A Municipality (est: omavalitsus) 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 (est: linnad, sg. - linn) and rural municipalities, or communes (est: vallad, sg. - vald). There is no other status distinction between them.

Municipality may contain one or several populated places. Some urban municipalities are divided into districts (est: linnaosad, sg. - linnaosa) with limited self-government, e.g. Tallinn consists of 8 districts (Haabersti, Kesklinn, Kristiine, Lasnamäe, Mustamäe, Nõmme, Pirita, Põhja-Tallinn).

Municipalities are ranging in size from Tallinn with 400 000 inhabitants to Ruhnu with as few as 60. 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.

Since 1 November 2002 there are total of 241 municipalities in Estonia, 40 of them are urban and 201 are rural.

According to changes, that will come into force after the municipal elections in October 2005, the number of municipalities will decrease to the total of 227 (34 urban, 193 rural).

Structure of local authorities

In each municipality there is a local government as well as a council.

The council (est: volikogu) is a representative body elected by the residents of a municipality for a term of three years. The members of the council elect a chairman (est: volikogu esimees) , who organises the council’s work and represents the municipality.

The government (est: valitsus) is an executive body formed by the council. It is headed by a mayor (est: linnapea in towns, vallavanem in communes), who is appointed for a three-year term. The mayor cannot be the chairman of the council. Other members of the government are chosen by the mayor with the approval of the council.

See also

• List of municipalities of Estonia
• Populated places in Estonia

External links

• Local Government Reform an Estonian Institute publication
• Local Government Reform an Institute of Baltic Studies publication