Rapla County ( or Raplamaa) 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 (Liber Census Daniae).
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
thumb|left|300px|Municipalities of Rapla County after 2017 administrative reform
The county is subdivided into municipalities. There are 4 rural municipalities ( 'parishes') in Rapla County:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Rank !! Municipality !! Type !! Population<br />(2018)!! Area<br />km<sup>2</sup>
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.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Religious affiliations in Rapla County, census 2000–2021*
|-
! rowspan="2"|Religion
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|2000
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|2011
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|2021
|-
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;" | Christianity || 7,747|| 26.1|| 5,144|| 17.6|| 4,370||15.7
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Orthodox Christians</small> || 775|| 2.6|| 912|| 3.1|| 740||2.7
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Lutherans</small> || 6,439|| 21.7|| 3,761|| 12.8|| 2,980||10.7
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Catholics</small> || 68|| 0.2|| 50|| 0.1|| 240||0.8
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Baptists</small> || 232|| 0.7|| 155|| 0.5|| 140||0.5
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Jehovah's Witnesses</small> || 58|| 0.1|| 72|| 0.2|| 80||0.2
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Pentecostals</small> || 95|| 0.2|| 37|| 0.1|| 30||0.1
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Old Believers</small> || 4|| 0.01|| 7|| 0.01|| -||-
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Methodists</small> || 36|| 0.1|| 13|| 0.02|| -||-
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Adventists</small> || 40|| 0.1|| 29|| 0.1|| -||-
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Other Christians</small> || -|| || 108|| 0.3|| 160||0.55
|-
|style="background:#E0FFD0;"| Islam || 9|| 0.02|| 11|| 0.02|| -||-
|-
| style="background:#FFFFC0;" | Buddhism|| -|| -|| 15|| 0.02|| 60||0.2
|-
| style="background:#F0E0FF;" | Other religions<small>**</small>|| 177|| 0.6|| 232|| 0.8|| 340||1.2
|-
| style="background:#F5F5F5;" | No religion|| 11,739|| 39.6|| 19,695|| 67.5|| 19,660||70.6
|-
| style="background:#DCDCDC;" | Not stated<small>***</small>|| 9,860|| 33.2|| 4,091|| 14.0|| 3,330||11.9
|-
! Total population<small>*</small> || colspan="2" | 29,632|| colspan="2" | 29,187|| colspan="2" |27,820
|-
| colspan="7" | *<small>The censuses of Estonia count the religious affiliations of the population older than 15 years of age.</small>