The county contains large deposits of oil shale – the main mineral mined in Estonia.

The capital of the county is the town of Jõhvi which is administratively united with the Jõhvi Parish; nevertheless, Narva is the largest town in the county in terms of population and at the same time the third largest city in Estonia after Tallinn and Tartu.

It is the only county in Estonia where Russians constitute the majority of population (73.1% in 2010), the second highest being Harju (28%).

By ethnic origin, on 1 January 2017, 73.1% of the population were Russians, 18.9% were Estonians, 2.3% were Ukrainians, 2.1% were Belarusians and 0.9% were Finns.

The congregations belonging to the Catholic Church in Estonia that operate in Ida-Viru County are: Ahtme, Narva, Sillamäe, Kiviõli and Sompa and Kohtla-Järve.