Pärnu County

Pärnu County (Pärnu maakond or Pärnumaa; Kreis Pernau) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in the 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. In 2022, Pärnu County had a population of 85,705 – constituting 6.4% of the total population of Estonia.

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, which is the town of Sindi, and it is 2 km up the Pärnu River, near the village of Pulli. It dates back to 8500 BCE in the Mesolithic historical period.

County government
The administrative reform in Estonia abolished county governments by the end of 2017. Before that, counties were led by a governor, who was appointed by the Government of Estonia for a term of five years.

Previous county governors:
 * 1993–2009: Toomas Kivimägi
 * 2010–2015: Andres Metsoja
 * 2015–2017: Kalev Kaljuste

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 is one urban municipality (Estonian: linnad – towns) and six rural municipalities (Estonian: vallad – parishes) in Pärnu County.