Kohtla-Järve () is a city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in northeastern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

s and is a large producer of various petrochemical products. During the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, large numbers of immigrant workers from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and other parts of the

former USSR The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

were brought in to populate the rapidly growing city. The population in the Kohtla-Järve area which had been, as of 1934 census, over 90% ethnic Estonian, became overwhelmingly non-Estonian in the second half of the 20th century. According to more recent data (as of 2006) 21% of the city's population are ethnic

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...

; most of the rest are

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

. Kohtla-Järve is the fifth-largest city in Estonia in terms of population. Kohtla-Järve is unusual among the municipalities of Estonia due to its territory being made of several discontiguous parts. The two main parts, Järve (Kohtla-Järve proper) and Ahtme, both with populations around 20,000, are located about 10 km apart. Several other settlements in north-eastern

Ida-Viru county Ida-Viru County ( or ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is the most northeastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of oil shale the main mineral mined in Estonia. Oil shale is used in the production of shale oil ...

, connected to oil shale mining, are administered as districts of Kohtla-Järve. During most of the period of the Soviet occupation, the town of

Jõhvi Jõhvi ( ; ; ) is a town in northeastern Estonia, and the administrative seat of Ida-Viru County and Jõhvi Parish. The town is located about 50 km west of the Estonia–Russia international border. History Jõhvi was first mentioned as ...

was also incorporated into Kohtla-Järve.

History

The history of Kohtla-Järve is closely tied to the history of extraction of oil shale – the main mineral of Estonia. There is evidence that a number of settlements existed on the territory of modern Kohtla-Järve since the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

. In the Danish Land Book, Järve and Kukruse villages were first mentioned in 1241 by the names ''Jeruius'' and ''Kukarus'' respectively, and Sompa village in 1420 by the name ''Soenpe''. Its German name was '' Kochtel-Türpsal''. Local residents were aware of oil shale's flammable capability in ancient times, but its industrial extraction in Estonia began only in the 20th century. In 1916, researches showed that oil shale could be used both as fuel and as a raw material for chemical industry, and mining started near Järve village. In 1919, the Estonian State Oil Shale Industrial Corporation was formed and extraction by shaft and

open-pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...

was extended. Settlements for workers began to appear adjacent to the mines. In 1924 the oil shale processing factory was built near Kohtla railway station, and the nearby settlement, named Kohtla-Järve, started to grow. During World War II the value of the Estonian oil shale deposit grew. The Germans, who occupied Estonia in 1941–1944, considered it as an important source of fuel. However, they failed to begin full-scale extraction. After the war, the next occupier of Estonia, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, required constantly increasing quantities of oil shale for its industries and extraction greatly expanded.

Demographics

Kohtla-Järve, as the main settlement in the mining area, received city status on 15 June 1946. Since that time, during the next twenty years, there was a process of administrative amalgamation of neighboring settlements within the limits of Kohtla-Järve. Kohtla and Kukruse were added to the city in 1949; Jõhvi, Ahtme and Sompa in 1960. The town of Kiviõli and the boroughs of Oru, Püssi and Viivikonna were subordinated to the city in 1964. Thus, Kohtla-Järve greatly expanded, becoming a city with a unique layout, as its parts remained scattered among woods, agricultural areas and oil shale mines. Total population of the city increased mainly by workers sent from different parts of Soviet Union, reaching (with subordinated settlements) 90,000 in 1980. After the end of the Soviet Union occupation, Estonia regained independence in August 1991, and thereafter the number of city districts decreased, as

Kiviõli Kiviõli ( ; ) is an industrial town in Ida-Viru County, Estonia, established in 1922. The main industry in the town is oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture ...

and

Püssi Püssi ( ; ; ) is a town in Lüganuse Parish, Ida-Viru County, Estonia, with a population of 917 . It is located near the road between Tallinn and St. Petersburg. History Following the end of the Soviet Union's 47-year occupation of Estonia, P ...

became officially separate towns. The volume of oil shale extraction and processing decreased dramatically during the 1990s, and many Kohtla-Järve citizens moved to

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

or Russia, due to high unemployment in

Ida-Viru County Ida-Viru County ( or ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is the most northeastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of oil shale the main mineral mined in Estonia. Oil shale is used in the production of shale oil ...

. Ahtme, which has been a part of Kohtla-Järve since 1960, had a population of 11 215 in 1959, including 1847 (16.5%) Estonians.

Economy

Kohtla-Järve is known for its chemical industry. It is the headquarters of Viru Keemia Grupp, an Estonian holding group of oil shale industry, power generation, and public utility companies.

Eastman Chemical Company Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals an ...

also has a manufacturing site located in Kohtla-Järve. Since 2006, the Ukrainian DF Group has owned a fertilizer plant in Kohtla-Järve – it has (through its Austria and Cyprus based intermediaries) 100% ownership of AS Nitrofert. Established in 1993, AS Nitrofert was (as of 2006) the only plant to produce fertilizers in Estonia and during the peak of its production used 25% of the total volume of natural gas in Estonia.

Geography

Kohtla-Järve has a unique layout. The districts of the city are scattered across the northern part of Ida-Viru County in a considerably large area. The distance between Järve and Oru districts is about 20 km.

Districts

The city is subdivided into five administrative districts (): The populations of many of the smaller exclaves have rapidly declined since the 1990s. Before the Estonian administrative reform of 2017, Viivikonna and Sirgala (combined population of 99) were also part of the municipality.

Gallery

File:Kohtla-Järve Linnavalitsus.jpg, Kohtla-Järve city administration building File:Kohtla-Järve_2007_8.jpg, Community centre in Kohtla-Järve File:Cultural house in Sompa district, Kohtla-Järve city, Estonia.jpg, Sompa district, community centre in the middle. File:Kohtla-Järve 2007 4.jpg, Administrative building of Viru Keemia Grupp File:Kukruse 2007.jpg, Kohtla-Järve branch of the Tallinn Health Care College

Twin towns – sister cities

Kohtla-Järve is twinned with: *

Kėdainiai Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest List of cities in Lithuania, cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Lithuania's second largest city Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. Kėdainiai were first mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle ...

, Lithuania *

Kingiseppsky District Kingiseppsky District (, ) is an administrativeOblast Law #32-oz and municipalLaw #81-oz district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Leningrad Oblast, seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the oblast ...

, Russia * Korostyshiv, Ukraine * Norderstedt, Germany *

Outokumpu Outokumpu Oyj is a group of international companies headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with 10,600 employees in more than 30 countries. Outokumpu is the largest producer of stainless steel in Europe and the second largest producer in the Americ ...

, Finland *

Salihorsk Salihorsk or Soligorsk (, ; , ) is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Salihorsk District. As of 2025, it has a population of 96,993. History The city is one of the country's newest settlements; its con ...

, Belarus * Slantsevsky District, Russia * Staffanstorp, Sweden *

Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the ...

, Russia * Wyszków, Poland

References

External links

Official website

History and demographic information of the town
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohtla-Jarve Cities and towns in Estonia Municipalities of Estonia Populated places in Ida-Viru County Populated places established in 1924 1924 establishments in Estonia Mining communities in Europe Oil shale in Estonia Petroleum in Estonia Russian communities Kreis Wierland