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Latvia is a country in north eastern Europe.

Latvia is bordered by the Baltic Sea.

The land is flat

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Latvia, also known as lines of latitude and longtitude, are:-
Latitude - 57 00N
Longitude - 25 00E

The capital of Latvia is Riga.

Latvia is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Latvia is the euro. Latvia is a member of the European Union, having joined in 2004.

Latvian is the official language.

Check the weather in Riga now.

This is the time in Riga now

The Latvian flag is 3 horizontal stripes of maroon, white and maroon with the white stripe being half the size of the maroon ones.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Latvian National Anthem called God Bless Latvia. It was re-adopted in 1990. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

God, bless Latvia,
Our dearest fatherland,
Do bless Latvia,
Oh, do bless it!

God, bless Latvia,
Our dearest fatherland,
Do bless Latvia,
Oh, do bless it!

Where Latvian daughters bloom,
Where Latvian sons sing,
Let us dance in happiness there,
In our Latvia!

Where Latvian daughters bloom,
Where Latvian sons sing,
Let us dance in happiness there,
In our Latvia!

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Latvia is 62,249 sq kms which is the 23rd largest in Europe.

Latvia has lakes, rivers and canals which total 2,340 sq kms.

Latvia has boundaries with 4 countries

• Lithuania 544 kms
• Estonia 333 kms
• Russia 332 kms
• Belarus 161 kms

Latvia has a coastline of 498 kms which is the 17th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Latvia is Gaizina Kalns at 312 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Latvia is 1.97 million people, making it the 33rd largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 1.06 million are females and 0.91 million are males.

A person from Latvia is called a Latvian.

To be a citizen of Latvia, one of your parents must be a citizen of Latvia. It is not sufficient to be born in Latvia. You have to live in Latvia for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Latvia, by population are:-

• Riga 742,572 people
• Daugavpils 111,564
• Liepaja 85,132
• Jelgava 61,791
• Jurmala 54,088

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



67.4% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Latvia is 9.9 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Latvia is 14.4 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 4.9 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 5.7 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 46.6 and for males is 39.5. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 26.4.

The elderly dependency ratio is 29.4. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.4. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Latvia spends 5.9% of its total income on health care.

There are 3.58 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 5.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

23.6% of the population are estimated as obese.

99.8% of the urban population and 98.3% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

90.8% of the urban population and 81.5% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Latvia releases 7.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 35th highest in Europe.

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Latvia spends 4.9% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 7 in Latvia. Compulsory education is for nine years until age 16 and education can continue till 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes at the end of May. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas, a long weekend at Easter, and a one week break in the middle of each of the first two terms.

99.9% of females and 99.9% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

17.3% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 12.1% are unemployed while with males 21.4% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Latvia is 968,700.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

9.6% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 18 paved airports in Latvia, which is the 26th highest number in Europe.


There are 2,239 kilometres of railways in Latvia, which is the 27th longest in Europe.


There are 14,707 kilometres of roads in Latvia, which means Latvia is in 30th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 5 major national newspapers in Latvia.

There are 2.60 million mobile phone users.

20% of the people have a fixed landline.



1.6 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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