Other events in Baltic States

The Viimsi parish bordering Estonia’s capital Tallinn is the most capable local municipality in Estonia while the small Õru parish in South Eastern Valgamaa county was declared the least capable local municipality according to a fresh study, LETA/Postimees Online writes.

Estonia’s 226 municipalities: parishes and cities were listed according to their population numbers, reproduction capacity, number of economic units, jobs, average incomes, variety of economy and other factors in this analysis.

The parish of Viimsi was followed by the Rae parish (bordering Tallinn), the city of Tallinn, Saku parish (near Tallinn), Harku parish (bordering Tallinn), Saaremaa island’s capital Kuressaare, Jõelähtme parish (near Tallinn), city of Tartu and town of Keila.

“The positive thing is that the gap in the capability index between the municipalities with lower capability and stronger ones has decreased,” said regional minister Siim Kiisler. Still, the leader, Viimsi parish collected 85.8 points while the 226th, Õru parish just 14.8.

Kiisler said that the problem that the analysis highlights is that change in the number of population has changed in favour of stronger ones. “Those with higher capability get more inhabitants,” he said.

“Small municipalities become smaller, big one persist and gaps will be increasing in long-term perspective as the result,” he said.