Rapla County


Rapla County is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is located in the northwestern part of the country and borders Järva County to the east, Pärnu County to the south, Lääne County to the west, and Harju County to the north. In 2022 Rapla County had a population of 33,529, constituting 2.5% of the total population of Estonia.

History

The first written records of Rapla date back to the 1241 Danish census.

County government

Until 2017, the County Government was led by a governor, who was appointed by the Government of Estonia for a term of five years. Since 2015, the governor position has been held by Tõnis Blank.

Municipalities

The county is subdivided into municipalities. There are 4 rural municipalities in Rapla County:
RankMunicipalityTypePopulation
Area
km2
Density
1Kehtna ParishRural5,60551210.9
2Kohila ParishRural7,09623030.9
3Märjamaa ParishRural7,7391,1746.6
4Rapla ParishRural13,33484915.7

Religion

The congregations of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in the county are Hageri St. Lambertus, Juuru St.Michael's, Järvakandi St. Paul's, Märjamaa of Blessed Virgin Mary, Rapla Mary Magdalene's, Vahastu and Vigala of Blessed Virgin Mary. 
The Orthodox congregations in the county include the Ascension of the Lord congregation in Kohila rural municipality, the Holy Trinity congregation in Lelle and the St. John the Baptist congregation in Velise, which are under the administration of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church . 
The Baptist congregations operate in Rapla and Märjamaa and the Adventist congregations operate in Rapla and Valgu.
There is a congregation of Moravian Church in Hageri.
There is  a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in the county.

Geography

Natural resources found in Rapla county include limestone, dolomite, peat, and clay.

Miscellaneous topics

The church of Rapla was built in 1901. However, much of the interior dates back to several hundred years earlier and is of high structural quality and historical value. In the churchyard there are several crosses remaining from the 17th century.