Maardu (, ) is a town and a municipality in Harju County, Estonia. It is part of Tallinn metropolitan area, located about east of the capital city. The town covers an area of 22.76 km<sup>2</sup> and has a population of 16,073 (as of 1 January 2026).
The Port of Muuga, the largest cargo port in Estonia, is partly located in Maardu.
According to the 2000 Census, the population was 16,738. 61.7% were Russians, 19.9% Estonians, 6.6% Ukrainians, 5.7% Belarusians, 1.5% Tatars. The proportion of Estonians was one of the lowest (if not the lowest) in Central and Western Estonia.
Outside the town (in the village of Maardu), south of the road to Narva lies Maardu manor, one of the oldest preserved baroque manor houses in Estonia. It traces its origins to 1389, but the current building dates from the 1660s with additions made in the 19th century. The landlord of the manor Herman Jensen Bohn in 1739 funded the printing of the first bible printed in Estonian.
Maardu neighborhoods
Maardu may be divided into six parts:
- Kallavere (the centre of the city where most of the public institutions are located)
- Muuga Harbour
- Muuga aedlinn (former garden city, now a light residential suburb more connected to Tallinn than Kallavere)
- Kärmu (industrial area)
- Kroodi (industrial area)
- Lake Maardu
Demographics
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Ethnic composition 1959-2021
! rowspan="2" |Ethnicity
! colspan="2" |1959
! colspan="2" |1970
! colspan="2" |1979
! colspan="2" |1989
! colspan="2" |2011
! colspan="2" |2021
|-
!amount
!%
!amount
!%
!amount
!%
!amount
!%
!amount
!%
!amount
!%
!amount
!%
|-
|Estonians
|1475
|34.9
|2110
|30.7
|2167
|21.7
|2479
|15.4
|3331
|19.9
|4347
|24.8
|3746
|23.2
|-
|Russians
| -
| -
|3254
|47.3
|5656
|56.7
|10024
|62.4
|10331
|61.7
|10845
|61.9
|10037
|62.1
|-
|Ukrainians
| -
| -
|298
|4.33
|584
|5.86
|1269
|7.91
|1101
|6.58
|861
|4.91
|957
|5.92
|-
|Belarusians
| -
| -
|763
|11.1
|942
|9.45
|1281
|7.98
|949
|5.67
|660
|3.77
|536
|3.31
|-
|Finns
| -
| -
|144
|2.09
|139
|1.39
|133
|0.83
|144
|0.86
|88
|0.50
|62
|0.38
|-
|Jews
| -
| -
|19
|0.28
|28
|0.28
|24
|0.15
|19
|0.11
|20
|0.11
|13
|0.08
|-
|Latvians
| -
| -
|19
|0.28
|27
|0.27
|37
|0.23
|36
|0.22
|34
|0.19
|42
|0.26
|-
|Germans
| -
| -
| -
| -
|27
|0.27
|42
|0.26
|31
|0.19
|27
|0.15
|25
|0.15
|-
|Tatars
| -
| -
| -
| -
|169
|1.70
|267
|1.66
|245
|1.46
|168
|0.96
|156
|0.96
|-
|Poles
| -
| -
| -
| -
|73
|0.73
|86
|0.54
|93
|0.56
|86
|0.49
|85
|0.53
|-
|Lithuanians
| -
| -
|24
|0.35
|36
|0.36
|51
|0.32
|79
|0.47
|82
|0.47
|78
|0.48
|-
|unknown
|0
|0.00
|0
|0.00
|0
|0.00
|0
|0.00
|93
|0.56
|14
|0.08
|80
|0.49
|-
|other
|2748
|65.1
|246
|3.58
|122
|1.22
|359
|2.24
|286
|1.71
|292
|1.67
|353
|2.18
|-
!Total
!4223
!100
!6877
!100
!9970
!100
!16052
!100
!16738
!100
!17524
!100
!16170
!100
|}
Gallery
<gallery>
File:Maarduveneoigeusukirik100906.jpg|Maardu Archangel Michael Church
File:Iru power plant.jpg|Iru thermal power plant
File:Maardu jarv.jpg|Lake Maardu
File:Maardu manor.jpg|Maardu manor house
File:Maardu sunset.jpg|Apartment buildings at sunset
File:Veeru street.jpg|Soviet-era apartment buildings
File:Kroodi, Maardu1.jpg|Abandoned factory building in Maardu
File:Kroodi creek.jpg|Kroodi creek
</gallery>
See also
- Maardu Linnameeskond
- Maardu United