Võru County

Võru County, also called Võrumaa, is a county in southern Estonia covering 2,305 square kilometres. It borders Valga and Põlva counties, Latvia's Alūksne and Ape municipalities and Russia's Pskov Oblast, which makes it the only Estonian county to border two countries. In 2022 it had a population of 34,182, about 2.6 percent of Estonia. The county is divided into twelve rural municipalities and one urban municipality, the county capital Võru. Two indigenous groups live here, the Võro people and the Setos, each with its own language and heritage, and the Võro Institute works to preserve the Võro language and culture. The smoke sauna tradition of the Võro was added to the UNESCO intangible heritage list in 2014. Forestry, wood processing, furniture and food industry and tourism are its main economic sectors.