Pärnu County

Infobox_Maakond
name=Pärnu
fullname=Pärnu maakond

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capital=Pärnu
governor=Toomas Kivimägi
area=4,807
arearank=1st
population_as_of=2004
population=89,660
populationrank=4th
populationdensity=18.6
densityrank=5th
isocode=EE-67

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Pärnu County ( _et. Pärnu maakond), or "Pärnumaa", is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in south-western part of the country, on the coast of Gulf of Riga, and borders Lääne and Rapla counties to the north, Järva and Viljandi counties to the east, and Latvia to the south. 6.6% of the total population of Estonia live in Pärnu County.

Pärnu County is the largest county of Estonia in terms of land area.

History

In Pärnu county there is the oldest known human settlement in Estonia, from town of Sindi 2 km upstream by Pärnu river, near village Pulli. 8500 years BC. Mesolithic historical period.

County Government

The County Government (Estonian: "Maavalitsus") is led by Governor (Estonian: "maavanem"), who is appointed by the Government of Estonia for a term of five years. Since 7 December 1993, the Governor position is held by Toomas Kivimägi.

Tourism

The city of Pärnu is a popular holiday resort for Estonians and increasingly for non-Estonians, e.g., from Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Russia.

Municipalities

The county is subdivided into municipalities. There are 2 urban municipalities (Estonian: "linnad" - towns) and 19 rural municipalities (Estonian: "vallad" - parishes) in Pärnu County.

Urban municipalities:
*Pärnu
*SindiRural municipalities:
*Are
*Audru
*Halinga
*Häädemeeste
*Kaisma
*Kihnu
*Koonga
*Lavassaare
*Paikuse
*Saarde
*Sauga
*Surju
*Tahkuranna
*Tootsi
*Tori
*Tõstamaa
*Varbla
*Vändra Parish
*Vändra borough

Geography

Miscellaneous topics

External links

* [http://www.parnumaa.ee Pärnu County] Official website
* [http://www.mv.parnu.ee/ Pärnu County Government] (in Estonian)
* [http://www.parnu.ee Town of Pärnu] Official website

Template group
title = Geographic locale
list =