Maardu

Maardu (Estonian:[ˈmɑːrd̥u], German:Maart) is a town and a municipality in Harju County, Estonia. It is part of Tallinn metropolitan area, located about 15 kilometres (9.3mi) east of the capital city. The town covers an area of 22.76km2 and has a population of 16,812 (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

Ethnic composition 1959-2021
Ethnicity	1959	1970	1979	1989	2000	2011	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

Religion

Out of older than fifteen years residents of Maardu, 53.2 per cent are religiously unaffiliated, 35.7 per cent identify as Orthodox, Lutherans make up 4.4 per cent of the population, other Christians 3.7 per cent and 2.5 per cent of the population follows other religions or did not specify their religious affiliation.

Gallery

Maardu Archangel Michael Church
Iru thermal power plant
Lake Maardu
Maardu manor house
Apartment buildings at sunset
Soviet-era apartment buildings
Abandoned factory building in Maardu
Kroodi creek

External links

(in Estonian)
Maardutravel guide from Wikivoyage