Saare County | |||
---|---|---|---|
County of Estonia | |||
|
|||
Country | Estonia | ||
Capital | Kuressaare | ||
Government | |||
• Governor | Kaido Kaasik | ||
Area | |||
• Total | 2,922.19 km2 (1,128.26 sq mi) | ||
Population (June 2014) | |||
• Total | 31 756 | ||
Ethnicity | |||
• Estonians | 97.9% | ||
• other | 2.1% | ||
ISO 3166 code | EE-74 | ||
Vehicle registration | K | ||
Website | www |
Osilia Saaremaa |
|||||
county of Estonia | |||||
|
|||||
Ancient Estonia | |||||
Capital | Pöide | ||||
History | |||||
• | Established | 9th century | |||
• | Disestablished | 1345 | |||
Area | 2,871 km2(1,108 sq mi) |
Saare County (Estonian: Saare maakond), or Saaremaa, (Latin: Osilia or Oesel; German: Ösel) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It consists of Saaremaa, the largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it, most notably Muhu, Ruhnu, Abruka and Vilsandi. The county borders Lääne County to the east and Hiiu County to the north. In January 2013 Saare County had a population of 30,966 – constituting 2.4% of the population of Estonia.
The County Government (Estonian: Maavalitsus) is led by a Governor (Estonian: maavanem), who is appointed by the Estonian government for a term of five years. Currently, the Governor position is held by Kaido Kaasik.
The county is subdivided into municipalities. There is one urban municipality (Estonian: linn – town) and 13 rural municipalities (Estonian: vallad – parishes) in Saare County.
Urban municipality:
Rural municipalities:
The largest islands of the county are Saaremaa, Muhu, Ruhnu, Abruka and Vilsandi. Arable land is 570 km² and it has a mild maritime climate. The mean annual air temperature is 6.0 °C and the mean annual precipitation is 509 mm.