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Capital

Riga

Location
Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania

Geographic coordinates
57 00 N, 25 00 E

Area
total: 64,589 sq km
water: 1,000 sq km
land: 63,589 sq km

Land boundaries
total: 1,150 km
border countries: Belarus 141 km, Estonia 339 km, Lithuania 453 km, Russia 217 km

Coastline
531 km

Climate
maritime; wet, moderate winters

Terrain
low plain

Elevation extremes
lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m
highest point: Gaizinkalns 312 m

Natural resources
peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, wood, arable land

Land use
arable land: 29.01%
permanent crops: 0.48%
other: 70.51% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land
200 sq km
note: land in Latvia is often too wet, and in need of drainage, not irrigation; approximately 16,000 sq km or 85% of agricultural land has been improved by drainage (1998 est.)

Irrigated land
200 sq km
note: land in Latvia is often too wet, and in need of drainage, not irrigation; approximately 16,000 sq km or 85% of agricultural land has been improved by drainage (1998 est.)

Natural hazards
N/A

 
Population
2,245,423 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure
0-14 years: 13.4% (male 154,077/female 146,825)
15-64 years: 69.7% (male 760,976/female 803,106)
65 years and over: 16.9% (male 124,658/female 255,781) (2008 est.)

Median age
total: 39.9 years
male: 36.9 years
female: 43 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate
-0.629% (2008 est.)

Birth rate
9.62 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate
13.63 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate
-2.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.49 male(s)/female
total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate
total: 8.96 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 10.85 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 6.97 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
total population: 71.88 years
male: 66.68 years
female: 77.35 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.29 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Nationality
noun: Latvian(s)
adjective: Latvian

Ethnic groups
Latvian 57.7%, Russian 29.6%, Belarusian 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.7%, Polish 2.5%, Lithuanian 1.4%, other 2% (2002)

Religions
Lutheran 19.6%, Orthodox 15.3%, other Christian 1%, other 0.4%, unspecified 63.7% (2006)

Languages
Latvian (official) 58.2%, Russian 37.5%, Lithuanian and other 4.3% (2000 census)

Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.7%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.7% (2000 census)

 
Country name
conventional long form: Republic of Latvia
conventional short form: Latvia
local short form: Latvija
former: Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
local long form: Latvijas Republika

Government type
parliamentary democracy

Independence
21 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday
Independence Day, 18 November (1918); note - 18 November 1918 is the date Latvia declared itself independent from Soviet Russia; 4 May 1990 is when it declared the renewal of independence; 21 August 1991 is the date of de facto independence from the Soviet Union

Constitution
the 1991 Constitutional Law, which supplements the 1922 constitution, provides for basic rights and freedoms

Legal system
based on civil law system

Suffrage
18 years of age; universal for Latvian citizens

Flag description
three horizontal bands of maroon (top), white (half-width), and maroon

 
Latvia's economy experienced GDP growth of more than 10% per year during 2006-07. The majority of companies, banks, and real estate have been privatized, although the state still holds sizable stakes in a few large enterprises. Latvia officially joined the World Trade Organization in February 1999. EU membership, a top foreign policy goal, came in May 2004. The current account deficit - more than 22% of GDP in 2007 - and inflation - at nearly 10% per year - remain major concerns.

Currency
Latvian lat (LVL)

Industries
buses, vans, street and railroad cars, synthetic fibers, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, textiles; note - dependent on imports for energy and raw materials

Exports - commodities
wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals, textiles, foodstuffs

Imports - commodities
machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, vehicles

 
Telephones - main lines in use
644,000 (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular
2.217 million (2007)

Telephone system
general assessment: recent efforts focused on bringing competition to the telecommunications sector; the number of fixed lines is decreasing as wireless telephone service expands
domestic: number of telecommunications operators has grown rapidly since the fixed-line market opened to competition in 2003; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular subscribership is roughly 125 per 100 persons
international: country code - 371; the Latvian network is now connected via fiber optic cable to Estonia, Finland, and Sweden (2007)

Radio broadcast stations
AM 8, FM 56, shortwave 1 (1998)

Television broadcast stations
44 (plus 31 repeaters) (1995)

Internet country code
.lv

Internet hosts
220,082 (2008)

Internet users
1.177 million (2007)

 
Railways
total: 2,303 km
broad gauge: 2,270 km 1.520-m gauge (257 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 33 km 0.750-m gauge (2006)

Roadways
total: 69,675 km
paved: 69,675 km (2006) )

Waterways
300 km (perennially navigable)

Pipelines
gas 1,097 km; oil 412 km; refined products 421 km (2003)

Ports and harbors
Liepaja, Riga, Ventspils

Airports
42 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways
21

Airports - with unpaved runways
21

(Facts from the CIA Factbook)

 
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