Latvia
Name
| Official name | Republic of Latvia — Latvijas Republika |
|---|---|
| Former names | Livonia, of the crusading order (1207–1561); the Duchy of Courland and the Swedish and Polish Livonias; the Russian governorates of Livonia and Courland (1721–1918); the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1941, 1944–1991), unrecognized by the West |
| Demonym | Latvian |
| Meaning of the name | From the Latgalians — the Letts — the Baltic tribe of the east; Latvija the Latvians' own name since the 19th century |
| Motto | None official — "Tēvzemei un Brīvībai," for Fatherland and Freedom, on the Freedom Monument |
Quick facts
| Capital | Riga — founded 1201, the capital since 1918; about 600,000, a third of the nation; the largest city of the Baltic states |
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| Largest cities | Riga; Daugavpils, about 80,000; Liepāja; Jelgava; Jūrmala; Ventspils; Rēzekne; Valmiera; Jēkabpils |
| Official language | Latvian — one of the two living Baltic languages with Lithuanian; Livonian, the Finnic tongue of the coast, protected with its last speakers; Russian spoken by about a third and taught no longer, the schools all Latvian by the reform of 2022–26; Latgalian the dialect of the east |
| Currency | Euro — EUR, €; since 1 January 2014, replacing the lats at 0.702804 |
| Time zone | Eastern European Time, UTC+2; summer time UTC+3 |
| Calling code | +371 |
| Internet domain | .lv |
| ISO 3166 codes | LV · LVA · 428 |
| Vehicle registration code | LV |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | 18 November 1918, proclaimed at Riga; restored by the declaration of 4 May 1990 and the vote of 21 August 1991 |
| National days | 18 November, Proclamation Day; 4 May, the Restoration of Independence; 21 August, since 2025 a holiday too; 24 June, Jāņi, the midsummer of the oak wreaths and the bonfires, with Līgo the evening before; 8 May and 9 May, the two ends of the war; the Song Festival every five years, next 2028 |
| Constitution | 15 February 1922 — the Satversme, in force from 7 November 1922, suspended in 1934 and by the Soviets, restored in full in 1993 — the oldest constitution in force in Eastern Europe; the presidency direct by the Saeima; amended for the EU, the euro and the preamble of 2014 on the Latvian nation |
| Population | 1,893,223 at the census of 2021; about 1.84 million (CSB, 2026 est.) — from 2.67 million in 1989 |
| Area | 64,589 km² (24,938 sq mi) — land 62,249 km², water 2,340 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A carmine red field with a narrow white stripe across the middle, the red twice the white — by the legend a wounded Latgalian chief of the 13th century wrapped in a sheet, its middle left white; among the oldest flags in the world, in the chronicles of 1279, adopted by the republic on 15 June 1921 and restored on 27 February 1990.Flag of Latvia |
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| Coat of arms | A shield bearing a rising sun for Latgale, a red lion for Courland and Semigallia and a silver griffin for Vidzeme, under three golden stars for the three regions, supported by the lion and griffin on oak branches — adopted 15 June 1921, restored 1990 |
| National anthem | "Dievs, svētī Latviju!" ("God Bless Latvia") — words and music by Kārlis Baumanis, first sung at the first Song Festival of 1873 and banned by the tsar; the anthem of the republic from 7 June 1920, banned by the Soviets, restored 15 February 1990 |
| National colors | Carmine red and white |
| National bird | The white wagtail — the cielava; declared by the Ornithological Society in 1960 |
| National insect | The two-spotted ladybird — the mārīte, "little Mary"; declared 1991 |
| National flower | The oxeye daisy — the pīpene, the daisy of the meadows and the wreaths |
| National trees | The oak and the linden — the ozols of the men and the liepa of the women, on the arms and in the songs |
| National stone | Amber — the dzintars of the Baltic shore, the "Latvian gold" |
| The Song Festival | The Latvian Song and Dance Festival, every five years since 1873, the choir of 20,000 at Mežaparks — on UNESCO's intangible list since 2003 with the Estonian and Lithuanian; the dainas, the four-line folk songs, 1.2 million of them collected by Krišjānis Barons, in the Memory of the World register |
| National dish | Grey peas with bacon — pelēkie zirņi ar speķi, the dish of the New Year; rye bread, rupjmaize; the sklandrausis of Courland; Riga Black Balsam; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by the Satversme and the laws of 1990; the bird, insect, flower and trees by the declarations; the festival and the dainas by UNESCO listing; the dishes widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Northern Europe on the Baltic — the middle of the three Baltic states, Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast; the Gulf of Riga |
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| Land borders | 1,370 km (851 mi) with four countries — Lithuania 544, Estonia 333, Russia 332, Belarus 161; the fence along the Russian and Belarusian lines built since 2021; the Abrene district ceded to Russia by the treaty of 2007 |
| Coastline | 498 km (309 mi) — the Gulf of Riga and the open coast of Courland, the beaches of Jūrmala and the dunes |
| Highest point | Gaiziņkalns, 312 m (1,024 ft), in Vidzeme |
| Lowest point | The Baltic Sea, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 87 m (285 ft) |
| Rivers | The Daugava, 352 km in the country of its 1,020, through Daugavpils and Jēkabpils to Riga, the river of the nation's songs, dammed at Pļaviņas, Ķegums and Riga; the Gauja, 452 km, wholly Latvian, through Sigulda's valley; the Lielupe of the Zemgale plain; the Venta with its falls at Kuldīga, the widest in Europe |
| Lakes | Some 2,250 lakes larger than a hectare — Lubāns, 82 km², the largest, in Latgale, the "land of blue lakes"; Rāznas; Engure; Burtnieks; Lake Drīdzis, the deepest at 65 m |
| Terrain | The low plain of the coast and the Zemgale; the uplands of Vidzeme and Latgale under 320 m; the forests, half the land, of pine and birch; the bogs, a tenth; the four regions of Vidzeme, Latgale, Kurzeme and Zemgale |
| Climate | Temperate maritime turning continental inland — mild wet summers, snow from December to March; about 650 mm of rain; the white nights of June |
| Natural hazards | Floods of the Daugava ice jams; the storms of the coast; the drought of the dry summers; the winter of −30°C in Latgale |
| Natural resources | Timber, the forests of half the land; peat; limestone, dolomite and gypsum; amber, the ore of the beaches; the hydropower of the Daugava; the wind of the coast and the sea |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 30%; forest about 54% — among the most forested in the EU |
| National parks | 4 — Gauja, the first, 1973, the valley of the castles, Sigulda and Turaida; Ķemeri of the bogs by Jūrmala; Slītere on Cape Kolka, where the Livonians live; Rāzna in Latgale; the Teiči and Krustkalni reserves |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 3 — the Historic Centre of Riga (1997), the Hanseatic old town and the Art Nouveau; the Struve Geodetic Arc (2005, shared with nine countries), two points; the Old Town of Kuldīga (2023), the wooden town of Courland; the Song and Dance Festival and the Suiti cultural space on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 43 local governments since the reform of 2021 — 36 municipalities, novadi, and 7 state cities, Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Ventspils and Rēzekne; the four historical regions in the Constitution; the five planning regions |
People
| Population | 1,893,223 (census of 2021); about 1.84 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 29 per km² (75 per sq mi) — among the lowest in the EU |
| Population growth | About −0.7% a year — deaths above births and the emigration to Britain, Ireland and Germany since 2004, slowed and partly reversed; a third of the people of 1990 gone |
| Median age | About 44 years |
| Life expectancy | About 76 years — the gap between women and men, ten years, among the widest in the EU |
| Fertility rate | About 1.3 births per woman — among the lowest in Europe |
| Urban population | About 69% |
| Adult literacy | About 100% |
| Ethnic groups | Latvian about 63%; Russian about 24%, the settlers of the Soviet decades and their children, most in Riga, Daugavpils and Latgale; Belarusian about 3%; Ukrainian about 2%, with the refugees of 2022; Polish about 2%; Lithuanian; the Livonians, about 200 by descent (census of 2021) |
| Languages | Latvian by about 62% at home and by nearly all in the state; Russian by about 35% at home, the language of Daugavpils; the Russian schools ended by the law of 2022, all teaching in Latvian by 2026; Latgalian; Livonian with a handful of speakers; English by the young |
| Religion | Lutheran about 36%, the German heritage; Roman Catholic about 20%, in Latgale; Russian Orthodox about 19%, the Russians; the Old Believers of Latgale; no religion about 20% — the church-going low; the dievturi of the old faith |
| Human Development Index | 0.889 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 37th of 193 |
| The non-citizens | About 170,000 residents, about 9% of the people, holding the status of "non-citizen" — the settlers of the Soviet years and their descendants who did not take the naturalization test since the citizenship law of 1994, with the alien's passport, without the vote or the state's jobs; the naturalization open and the test in Latvian, the state says, and a fifth of the Russian speakers left outside politics, the critics say; the children born since 2020 citizens at birth; the Russian citizens made to pass the language test since 2023 and some 1,000 ordered to leave |
| Sport | Ice hockey — the World Championship bronze of 2023, the country's first medal, and the national holiday declared for it; basketball — Kristaps Porziņģis in the NBA, the EuroBasket of 2025 hosted in Riga; the luge and the bobsled of Sigulda's track; tennis — Jeļena Ostapenko's Roland Garros of 2017; the 3×3 basketball gold of Tokyo 2021; the Song Festival the other national sport |
| Diaspora | About 370,000 Latvians and Latvian citizens abroad — in Britain, Ireland, Germany, the United States, Canada, Australia and Russia; the exiles of 1944 and the emigrants of 2004–14; the 196,385 registered to vote abroad in 2026 |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary parliamentary republic under the Satversme of 1922 — the president elected by the Saeima for four years, at most twice, as head of state with a suspensive veto and the right to propose a dissolution; the prime minister head of government with the Saeima's confidence; the Saeima of 100 |
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| President | Edgars Rinkēvičs (independent, New Unity before), since 8 July 2023 — the 11th; the foreign minister of 2011–23, the longest-serving, born 21 September 1973 at Jūrmala; elected 31 May 2023 in the third round with 52 votes; the first openly gay head of state in the European Union; his warnings of 2026 on NATO's rearmament and a European strategy for Ukraine; his term to 2027 |
| Prime Minister | Andris Kulbergs (independent, for the United List — Apvienotais saraksts), since 28 May 2026 — the 25th; a businessman of the car trade and a deputy since 2022, born 26 May 1979 in Riga; confirmed by the Saeima on 28 May 2026 by 66 votes to 25 at the head of a four-party government of the United List, New Unity, the Greens and Farmers and the National Alliance, a caretaker of four months to the election and, by the polls, the front-runner to lead the next |
| The fall of Siliņa | Evika Siliņa of New Unity, prime minister from 15 September 2023 and the second woman in the office, resigned on 14 May 2026 — her coalition broken by the row over the response to drone incursions across the eastern border, the defense minister Andris Sprūds of the Progressives dismissed for the shortcomings she laid to him, the Progressives and the Greens and Farmers withdrawing their trust; the Progressives in opposition and Sprūds their headline candidate in October |
| The 2026 election | The election of the 15th Saeima on 3 October 2026 — 100 seats in five constituencies, Riga's enlarged by two for the 196,385 voters registered abroad; 14 lists on the ballot, a 5% threshold, the voters marking and striking the candidates on the list; New Unity 25, the Greens and Farmers 16, the United List 13, the National Alliance 12, Stability! 10, the Progressives 9 and Latvia First 8 in the outgoing chamber; the security of the east, the cost of living, the taxes and the Russian question the issues; the results by 4 October, the new Saeima sitting 3 November; the observers' warning to the voters not to let the machines choose for them |
| Parliament | The Saeima — 100 members elected for four years by open-list proportional representation with a 5% threshold, in five constituencies; the speaker Daiga Mieriņa of the Greens and Farmers since 2023; the 14th elected 1 October 2022 |
| The next election | The Saeima on 3 October 2026; the presidential election by the new Saeima in 2027; the local elections of 2029 |
| Defense | The National Armed Forces — the State Defense Service of conscription restored in 2023 for eleven months, the first draft since 2006; defense spending at 3.5% of GDP in 2025 and, by the law of 26 March 2026, a floor of 5% from 2027, replacing 3%; the NATO battle group at Ādaži under Canada; the drone wall and the fence of the east; the Baltic Defense Line of bunkers; the Russian threat the whole of politics |
| The Russian question | The occupation of 1940 and 1944–91, the deportations of 14 June 1941 and 25 March 1949 — some 57,000 to Siberia — and the settlement of the republic by Russians to 40% of Riga; the language laws since 1989, the citizenship law of 1994, the schools reform of 2022, the Russian TV channels banned, the Soviet monuments pulled down since 2022, the Victory Monument of Riga on 25 August 2022; Russia's charge of discrimination and the state's of the "Russian world"; Stability! and Latvia First the parties of the Russian speakers now, Harmony gone |
| Legal system | Civil law on the German model; the Constitutional Court of 1996; the Supreme Court; the Latvian language required of every court |
| Local government | 43 municipalities with elected councils, the elections last in June 2025; Riga's council and its mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs since 2025 |
| European Union | Member since 1 May 2004; the eurozone since 2014, the Schengen area since 21 December 2007; the presidency of the Council in the first half of 2015; Valdis Dombrovskis, the former prime minister, a Commission vice president 2014–24 and the commissioner for the economy since |
| NATO | Member since 29 March 2004; the Ādaži base of the multinational brigade, Canadian-led; the Baltic air policing from Lielvārde; the Baltic Way of 1989 remembered in the Baltic unity of the three |
| United Nations | Member since 17 September 1991; the Baltic grid synchronized with Europe on 9 February 2025, the last tie to Russia cut |
| Other memberships | The Council of Europe (1995), the OECD (2016), the WTO (1999), the OSCE, the Nordic-Baltic Eight, the Baltic Assembly with Estonia and Lithuania |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$48 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$26,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$45,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 1% in 2025 and 2.5% in the first quarter of 2026 — the slowest of the Baltics through the 2020s; inflation down to about 3% from 17% in 2022 |
| Economy by sector | Services about 70%, industry about 22%, agriculture about 4% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Timber and the rest | Wood and wood products the largest export, a fifth — the sawmills and the pellets of the forests; food and drink; metals and machinery; pharmaceuticals; the electronics of Mikrotik; the textiles |
| The ports and the transit | Riga, Ventspils and Liepāja — the transit of Russian oil, coal and grain that built them, gone since 2022 by the sanctions and Moscow's rerouting; the ports turning to the grain of the Baltics and the wind |
| Finance | The banks of Riga that laundered the East's money — ABLV closed in 2018 under the U.S. Treasury's finding, the non-resident deposits driven out; the clean-up praised since; the fintech of the capital |
| Energy | The Daugava hydropower, about a third; the biomass and the wind rising; the Russian gas ended in 2023, the LNG from Klaipėda; the electricity grid cut from Russia and synchronized with Europe in February 2025; the offshore wind of Elwind with Estonia |
| Public finances | Public debt about 45% of GDP; the deficit near 3% with the defense bill; the EU funds; the taxes the election's argument |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); an OECD member since 2016 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Riga International Airport — the hub of the Baltics, about 7 million passengers; Liepāja; the Lielvārde air base |
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| Airline | airBaltic, founded 1995, the largest airline of the Baltic states, its Airbus A220 fleet the world's largest, state-owned and half-sold; the losses and the Lufthansa stake of 2025 |
| Main ports | Riga on the Daugava, the largest; Ventspils, the old oil port, ice-free; Liepāja; the ferries of Riga to Stockholm |
| Railways | About 1,860 km (1,156 mi) of the Russian gauge — the Latvian Railway of the Soviet transit, its freight halved since 2022; the Riga commuter trains; Rail Baltica, the standard-gauge line from Tallinn through Riga to Warsaw, the Riga central station and the Daugava bridge rising, the opening slipped toward 2030 and beyond |
| Roads | About 70,000 km (43,000 mi); the A-roads from Riga to Tallinn, Vilnius and the east, the Via Baltica the spine; the Riga bridges over the Daugava |
| Jūrmala | The resort of the Riga coast — 33 km of beach and the wooden villas of the tsar's time; the train from Riga in half an hour |
History in dates
| c. 9000 BC | The first hunters after the ice; the Balts by 2000 BC |
|---|---|
| 1201 | Riga founded by Bishop Albert; the Livonian crusade |
| 1282 | Riga in the Hanseatic League |
| 1561 | Livonia divided; the Duchy of Courland |
| 1651 | Courland's colonies on Tobago and the Gambia |
| 1710 | Riga falls to Peter the Great; Livonia Russian, 1721; Courland, 1795 |
| 1873 | The first Song Festival at Riga, 26 June |
| 1905 | The revolution in the countryside |
| 1918 | Independence proclaimed, 18 November |
| 1920 | The peace with Soviet Russia, 11 August |
| 1922 | The Satversme, 15 February |
| 1934 | Ulmanis's coup, 15 May |
| 1939 | The Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, 23 August |
| 1940 | The Soviet occupation, 17 June |
| 1941 | The deportation of 14 June; the German occupation; the Holocaust of the 70,000 Latvian Jews, Rumbula, 30 November |
| 1944 | The Soviets return; the Courland Pocket to 8 May 1945 |
| 1949 | The deportation of 25 March — 42,000 |
| 1988 | The Popular Front, 8 October; the flag raised |
| 1989 | The Baltic Way, 23 August — two million hands from Tallinn to Vilnius |
| 1990 | Independence declared, 4 May |
| 1991 | The barricades of January; independence restored, 21 August; the UN, 17 September |
| 1994 | The Russian troops leave, 31 August |
| 2004 | NATO, 29 March; the European Union, 1 May |
| 2014 | The euro, 1 January |
| 2023 | Rinkēvičs president, 8 July; Siliņa prime minister, 15 September |
| 2025 | The grid synchronized with Europe, 9 February |
| 2026 | The 5% defense law, 26 March; Siliņa resigns, 14 May; Kulbergs, 28 May; the election, 3 October |
Records & firsts
| The first openly gay head of state in the EU | Rinkēvičs, 2023 |
|---|---|
| The Art Nouveau capital of the world | Riga, some 800 buildings |
| The widest waterfall in Europe | The Venta at Kuldīga, 249 m |
| Among the oldest flags | In the chronicles of 1279 |
| The oldest constitution in force in Eastern Europe | 1922 |
| The Baltic Way | Two million hands, 1989 |
| A choir of 20,000 | The Song Festival since 1873 |
| The smallest colonial power | Courland's Tobago and Gambia |
| The fastest-shrinking country in the EU | A third gone since 1990 |
| The largest A220 fleet | airBaltic |
| Defense at 5% of GDP | By law from 2027 |
| The dainas | 1.2 million folk songs, in the Memory of the World |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Latvia?
The Republic of Latvia — Latvijas Republika — proclaimed on 18 November 1918 in Riga as the German and Russian empires fell, occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, and restored by the declaration of 4 May 1990 and the vote of 21 August 1991 as the Soviet coup collapsed; the same republic, by its own law, and the Constitution of 1922 is its constitution still. The name is the Latvians' own, Latvija, from the Latgalians, the Baltic tribe of the east, whom the Germans called Letts; Livonia was the crusaders' name for the land of the Livonians.
What is the capital of Latvia?
Riga — Rīga — on the Daugava near its mouth on the Gulf of Riga, founded in 1201 by the German bishop Albert as the base of the Baltic crusade, a Hanseatic city from 1282, the largest city of the three Baltic states with about 600,000 people, a third of the country, its medieval old town a World Heritage site and its streets of Art Nouveau the richest in the world. Daugavpils in the Russian-speaking east is the second city; Liepāja and Ventspils the ports of the west coast; Jelgava the old capital of Courland; Jūrmala the beach.
How big is Latvia, and how many people live there?
About 64,589 km² (24,938 sq mi) — a little larger than West Virginia, about the size of Sri Lanka — on the Baltic between Estonia and Lithuania, with Russia and Belarus behind it, half forest and bog. The census of 2021 counted 1,893,223 people; the Central Statistical Bureau estimates about 1.84 million for 2026, a population that has fallen by a third since 1990 through emigration and the lowest birth rates in Europe, the fastest decline of any country in the EU; Latvians are about 63 percent and ethnic Russians about 24, with some 170,000 residents holding the "non-citizen" status of the Soviet-era settlers.
What are the highest and lowest points of Latvia?
Gaiziņkalns, 312 m (1,024 ft), in the Vidzeme uplands of the east, a hill with a ski lift and a fallen tower — the country is among the flattest in Europe; and the Baltic Sea. The Daugava, the Western Dvina, runs 352 km through the country from Belarus to Riga with the dams that light it; the Gauja, 452 km, is the longest river wholly Latvian, through the valley of the national park; and the Venta at Kuldīga falls over the widest waterfall in Europe, 249 m across and 2 m high.
What currency does Latvia use?
The euro (ISO code EUR, €), since 1 January 2014, when it replaced the lats at 0.702804 — the lats of 1922 and of 1993, one of the most valuable units of Europe, given up as the eighteenth eurozone member. Clocks keep Eastern European Time, UTC+2, with summer time; Latvia drives on the right.
Who governs Latvia?
For the moment, a caretaker. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs of the United List has headed a four-party government since 28 May 2026, confirmed by the Saeima 66 to 25, after Evika Siliņa of New Unity resigned on 14 May when her coalition broke over the handling of drone incursions from the east and her sacking of the defense minister. The election of the 15th Saeima is on 3 October 2026, with fourteen lists on the ballot, a 5 percent threshold and the new parliament sitting on 3 November; Kulbergs leads the polls to head the next government. President Edgars Rinkēvičs, the foreign minister of twelve years, has been the head of state since 8 July 2023, the first openly gay head of state in the European Union.
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