Previously, I listed a preliminary set of NUTS codes dating from 2000, before Estonia had joined the European Union. Eurostat has revised the NUTS system, replacing NUTS level 4 and 5 codes with LAU level 1 and 2 codes (LAU = Local Administrative Units). The LAU level 2 codes are shown here.

Peeter Päll pointed out that Vändra vald (alev) should be of type v (vald), not l (linn) as I had it before.

Estonia is divided into counties. The counties are subdivided into vallad (sing. vald: rural municipalities) and linnad (sing. linn: urban municipalities). In a few cases (of which only one remains), there are two vallad in the same county with the same name, where one of the vallad was formerly an alev (borough), also with the same name. To distinguish between the two vallad, "(alev)" is appended to the one that was a borough.

Karem Abdalla provided me with a list of these municipalities as of 1998 and a history of changes from 1992 to 1998. Peeter Päll sent me some Estonian sites with more recent information. I used the latter to update the former, combining the data for municipalities that have merged. The following table should be accurate as of the end of 2002.

Change history:

1. 1992: Peeter Päll has provided the following explanation, which I have edited: alev (borough) used to be a self-governing town with a lower status than linn (city or town). In 1992, all local government units of the type alev were given the choice of converting into a linn. If they didn't, they automatically became a vald. The word alev came to mean nothing more than a populated place. Then it was discovered that there were four pairs of local government units with identical names. The clumsy expression vald (alev) was assigned to one member of each pair: the alev that became a vald. All but one of those pairs has now disappeared. The remaining one is Vändra vald and Vändra vald (alev).
2. 1992-04-30: Name of Kaarli vald, LV changed to Sõmeru; name of Linnamäe vald, LN changed to Oru; name of Sinimäe vald, IV changed to Vaivara; name of Suuremetsa vald, PL changed to Orava.
3. 1993-03-11: Kaiu vald, RA split from Juuru vald; Kernu vald, HA split from Nissi vald; Kiili vald, HA split from Saku vald; Saksi vald, LV split from Kadrina vald; Torgu vald, SA split from Salme vald.
4. 1993-06-28: Name of Lauka vald, HI changed to Kõrgessaare.
5. 1993-08-25: Viivikonna alev, IV merged with Kohtla-Järve linn.
6. 1995-06-01: Name of Uulu vald, PR changed to Tahkuranna.
7. 1996-07-16: Pärnu-Jaagupi alev, PR merged with Halinga vald.
8. 1996-10-22: Status of Tamsalu, LV changed from alev to linn.
9. 1997-04-22: Boundary between Kuressaare linn and Kärla vald, SA was changed.
10. 1997-10-14: Name of Polli vald, VD changed to to Karksi.
11. 1997-12-18: Status of Võsu, LV changed from alev to vald.
12. 1997-12-23: Some territory transferred from Meremäe vald, VR to Vastseliina vald.
13. 1998-06-11: Abja-Paluoja linn, VD merged with Abja vald.
14. 1998-06-30: More territory transferred from Meremäe vald, VR to Vastseliina vald.
15. 1998-10-20: Name of Raja vald, JN changed to Kasepää.
16. 1999-02-23: Some territory transferred from Halliste vald, VD to Karksi vald.
17. 1999-03-17: Otepää linn, VG merged with Pühajärve vald to form Otepää vald, effective 1999-10.
18. 1999-05-13: Lihula linn, LN merged with Lihula vald, effective 1999-10.
19. 1999-06-08: Karksi-Nuia linn, VD merged with Karksi vald. Võsu vald, LV merged with Vihula vald. Both changes were effective 1999-10.
20. 1999-06-15: Kuressaare vald, SA merged with Kaarma vald, effective 1999-10.
21. 1999-06-29: Antsla linn merged with Antsla vald, effective 1999-10.
22. 2002-07-11: Kehra linn, HA merged with Anija vald; Kohila vald (alev), RA merged with Kohila vald; Loodna vald, RA and Märjamaa vald (alev) merged with Märjamaa vald; Räpina linn, PL merged with Räpina vald; Rapla linn, RA merged with Rapla vald, all effective 2002-10.