Latvia
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Riga
- Population
- 1,888,439 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 64,589 sq km
- Government
- parliamentary republic
- Religions
- Lutheran 36.2%, Roman Catholic 19.5%, Orthodox 19.1%, other Christian 1.6%, other 0.1%, unspecified/none 23.5% (2017 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Latvian 62.7%, Russian 24.5%, Belarusian 3.1%, Ukrainian 2.2%, Polish 2%, Lithuanian 1.1%, other 1.8%, unspecified 2.6% (2021 est.)
- Currency
- euros (EUR)
- Life Expectancy
- 76.4 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .lv
- Climate
- maritime; wet, moderate winters
- Terrain
- low plain
- Natural Resources
- peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, timber, arable land
- Major Exports
- wood, wheat, broadcasting equipment, packaged medicine, natural gas (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
Several eastern Baltic tribes merged in medieval times to form the ethnic core of the Latvian people (ca. 8th-12th centuries A.D.). The region subsequently came under the control of Germans, Poles, Swedes, and finally Russians.