Latvia

**Latvia** (Latvian: _Latvija_), officially the **Republic of Latvia** (_Latvijas Republika_), is a country in Northern Europe. The capital is Riga. It is one of the Baltic states, together with Estonia in the north and Lithuania in the south. Latvia's neighbours to the east are the countries Russia and Belarus. Latvia is divided into four parts: Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Zemgale, and Latgale.

People from Latvia are called Latvians. They speak the Latvian language, which is a little like the Lithuanian language but is not close enough to be understood. There are other peoples that live in Latvia, including the Germans and the Russians.

## History

Latvia was settled by the Baltic tribes thousands of years ago. They mainly fished, hunted, and traded.

German traders and crusaders came to Latvia at the end of the 12th century. Latvians lost control of their homeland. Over the next 800 years, Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles, and Russians all invaded Latvia. Latvia finally became independent in 1918.

Between the 13th and the 15th centuries, the Teutonic Knights had a state that occupied Latvian territory.

Before World War I, the aristocracy was mainly German.

During the Great Northern War from 1700 to 1721, what is now Latvia became the part of the Russian Empire and were organized as Courland and Livonia.

Latvian workers took part in the revolutionary struggle in 1905.

In 1940, Latvia was annexed by the Soviet Union. It was briefly under German occupation during World War II in from 1941 to 1944.

After the war, many factories were opened. Latvia became one of the more successful Soviet republics.

In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed, and Latvia had its independence restored.

## Politics

In Copenhagen on 13 December 2002, Latvia and nine other countries were invited to join the European Union. On 20 September 2003, Latvians held an election to vote on joining. Two thirds of Latvians voted to join, and on 1 May 2004, Latvia became a member of the EU.

Latvia has been a NATO member since 29 March 2004.

There are 43 local government units, set up in 2020. 36 are municipalities (Latvian: _novadi_) and 7 state cities. Before 2020 there were 110 municipalities and nine republic cities.

## International rankings

|Name|Year|Place|Out of #|Reference|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|CIA World Factbook – GDP per capita (PPP)|2008|66th|229|https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html)|
|CIA World Factbook – life expectancy|2008|120th|223|https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html)|
|World Economic Forum – Enabling Trade Index ranking|2008|43rd|118|http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/GlobalEnablingTradeReport/index.htm(http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/GlobalEnablingTradeReport/index.htm)|
|Yale University / Columbia University – Environmental Performance Index|2008|8th|149|http://epi.yale.edu/(http://epi.yale.edu/)|
|The Economist Intelligence Unit – _e-readiness_|2008|37th|70|http://a330.g.akamai.net/7/330/25828/20080331202303/graphics.eiu.com/upload/ibm_ereadiness_2008.pdf(http://a330.g.akamai.net/7/330/25828/20080331202303/graphics.eiu.com/upload/ibm_ereadiness_2008.pdf)|
|The Economist Intelligence Unit – Global Peace Index|2008|39th|140|http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/results/rankings/2008/(http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/results/rankings/2008/)|
|United States Patent and Trademark Office's list of patents by country|2007|95th|172|http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/cst_all.htm(http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/cst_all.htm)|
|Save the Children – Mother's Index Rank|2007|25th|141|http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2007/SOWM-2007-final.pdf(http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2007/SOWM-2007-final.pdf)|
|Save the Children – Women's Index Rank|2007|21st|141|http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2007/SOWM-2007-final.pdf(http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2007/SOWM-2007-final.pdf)|
|Save the Children – Children's Index Rank|2007|33rd|141|http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2007/SOWM-2007-final.pdf(http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2007/SOWM-2007-final.pdf)|
|Wall Street Journal / The Heritage Foundation – Index of Economic Freedom|2007|39th|157|http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm(http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm)|
|United Nations – Human Development Index|2008|44th|179|http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/(http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/)|
|World Economic Forum – Global Competitiveness Report 2007–2008|2007|45th|131|http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gcr_2007/gcr2007_rankings.pdf(http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gcr_2007/gcr2007_rankings.pdf)|
|World Economic Forum – The Global Gender Gap Report 2007|2007|13th|128|http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf(http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf)|
|World Bank – Ease of Doing Business Index|2007–2008|29th|181|http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/(http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/)|
|Reporters Without Borders – Worldwide Press Freedom Index|2007|12th|169|http://www.rsf.org/Eritrea-ranked-last-for-first-time,24025.html(http://www.rsf.org/Eritrea-ranked-last-for-first-time,24025.html)|
|Transparency International – Corruption Perceptions Index|2007|49th|180|http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2008/cpi2008/cpi_2008_table(http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2008/cpi2008/cpi_2008_table)|
|The Economist Intelligence Unit – Index of Democracy|2007|43rd|167|http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/Democracy_Index_2007_v3.pdf(http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/Democracy_Index_2007_v3.pdf)|
|Privacy International – Privacy index (EU and 11 other selected countries)|2006|28th|36|http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2005/phrtable.pdf(http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2005/phrtable.pdf)|
|New Economics Foundation – Happy Planet Index|2006|160th|178|http://www.happyplanetindex.org/map.htm(http://www.happyplanetindex.org/map.htm)|
|The Economist Intelligence Unit – Quality-of-life index|2005|66th|111|http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf(http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf)|
|Save the Children – % seats in the national government held by women|2004|23–25th|126|http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2004/SOWM_2004_final.pdf(http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2004/SOWM_2004_final.pdf)|
|World Health Organization – suicide rates by country (both sexes)||8th|101|http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/country_reports/en/index.html(http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/country_reports/en/index.html)|
|NationMaster's index of civil and political liberties||17th|140|http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/dem_civ_and_pol_lib-democracy-civil-and-political-liberties(http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/dem_civ_and_pol_lib-democracy-civil-and-political-liberties)|

## Related pages

- Latvia at the Olympics
- Latvia national football team
- List of rivers of Latvia

## Other websites

- Latvian Government official site

## Infobox (country)

- **conventional long name**: Republic of Latvia
- **common name**: Latvia
- **image flag**: Flag of Latvia.svg
- **image coat**: Coat of Arms of Latvia.svg
- **image map**: EU-Latvia.svg
- **national anthem**: Dievs, svētī Latviju!
<small>God Bless Latvia! </small>

- **ethnic groups**: 62.1% Latvians,
26.9% Russians,
3.4% Belarusians,
2.2% Ukrainians,
2.2% Poles,
1.2% Lithuanians,
2% others and unspecified
- **ethnic groups year**: 2011
- **demonym**: Latvian
- **capital**: Riga
- **largest city**: capital
- **official languages**: Latvian language, Latvian
- **recognised languages**: Russian language, Russian
- **languages type**: Spoken languages
- **languages**: Latvian, Russian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romani
- **government type**: Parliamentary republic
- **leader title1**: President of Latvia, President
- **leader title2**: Prime Minister of Latvia, Prime Minister
- **leader title3**: Speaker of the Saeima
- **leader name1**: Edgars Rinkēvičs
- **leader name2**: Evika Siliņa
- **leader name3**: Daiga Mieriņa
- **area rank**: 124th
- **area km2**: 64,589
- **area sq mi**: 24,938
- **percent water**: 1.57% (1,014 km<sup>2</sup>)
- **population estimate**: 2,229,641
- **population estimate rank**: 143rd
- **population estimate year**: 2011
- **population census**: 2,377,383
- **population census year**: 2000
- **population density km2**: 34.3
- **population density sq mi**: 89.0
- **population density rank**: 166th
- **gdp ppp**: $32.513 billion
- **gdp ppp year**: 2010
- **gdp ppp per capita**: $14,460
- **gdp nominal**: $24.045 billion
- **gdp nominal year**: 2010
- **gdp nominal per capita**: $10,694
- **sovereignty type**: History of Latvia, Independence
- **sovereignty note**: from Germany and Russia
- **established event1**: On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia#Historical and juridical background, Declared<sup>1</sup>
- **established date1**: 18 November 1918
- **established event2**: On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia#Historical and juridical background, Recognized
- **established date2**: 26 January 1921
- **established event3**: Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, Soviet occupation
- **established date3**: 5 August 1940
- **established event4**: Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany, Nazi German occupation
- **established date4**: 10 July 1941
- **established event5**: Occupation of Latvia by Soviet Union 1944–1945, Soviet occupation
- **established date5**: 8 May 1945
- **established event6**: Declaration On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia, Announced
- **established date6**: 4 May 1990
- **established event7**: Latvian SSR#1980s-1991, Restored
- **established date7**: 21 August 1991
- **hdi**: 0.805
- **hdi change**: increase
- **hdi rank**: 43rd
- **hdi year**: 2011
- **gini**: 37.7
- **gini year**: 2003
- **currency**: Euro (Euro sign, €)
- **currency code**: EUR
- **time zone**: Eastern European Time, EET
- **utc offset**: +2
- **time zone dst**: Eastern European Summer Time, EEST
- **utc offset dst**: +3
- **drives on**: right
- **cctld**: .lv
- **calling code**: Telephone numbers in Latvia, +371
- **footnotes**: <sup>1</sup> Latvia is _de jure_ continuous with its declaration 18 November 1918.