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Travel to Latvia — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorLatvia
| The Republic of Latvia National
name: Latvijas Republika President:
Valdis Zatlers (2007) Prime
Minister: vacant
Current government officials
Land area: 24,903 sq mi (64,500 sq km);
total area: 24,938 sq mi (64,589 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 2,245,423 (growth
rate: –0.6%); birth rate: 9.6/1000; infant mortality rate:
8.9/1000; life expectancy: 71.8; density per sq km: 35
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Riga, 867,700 (metro. area), 706,200 (city
proper) Other large cities:
Daugavpils, 111,700; Liepaja, 82,300 Monetary unit: Lats
Languages:
Latvian 58% (official), Russian 38%, Lithuanian,
other (2000)
Ethnicity/race:
Latvian 57.7%, Russian 29.6%, Belorussian 4.1%,
Ukrainian 2.7%, Polish 2.5%, Lithuanian 1.4%, other 2% (2002)
Religions:
Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox
National Holiday:
Independence Day, November 18 Literacy: 100% (2003 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.):
$39.7 billion; per capita $17,400. Real growth rate: 10.2%.
Inflation: 10.1%. Unemployment: 5.7%. Arable
land: 30%. Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, potatoes,
vegetables; beef, pork, milk, eggs; fish. Labor force: 1.11
million; agriculture 15%, industry 25%, services 60% (2000 est.).
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.
Natural resources: peat, limestone, dolomite, amber,
hydropower, wood, arable land. Exports: $5.749 billion f.o.b.
(2005 est.): wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals,
textiles, foodstuffs. Imports: $8.559 billion f.o.b. (2005
est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, vehicles. Major
trading partners: UK, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia,
Denmark, Finland, Poland, Belarus (2004). Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 734,693 (2000); mobile cellular: 401,263 (2000). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 8, FM 56, shortwave 1 (1998).
Radios: 1.76 million (1997). Television broadcast
stations: 74 (1998). Televisions: 1.22 million (1997).
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 41 (2001). Internet
users: 312,000 (2001). Transportation:
Railways: total: 2,347 km (2002). Highways: total: 73,202
km; paved: 28,256 km; unpaved: 44,946 km (2000). Waterways: 300
km perennially navigable. Ports and harbors: Liepaja, Riga,
Ventspils. Airports: 38 (2002). International disputes: the Russian Duma
refuses to ratify boundary delimitation treaty with Latvia; the
Latvian Parliament has not ratified its 1998 maritime boundary treaty
with Lithuania, primarily due to concerns over oil exploration
rights.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Latvia borders Estonia on the north, Lithuania
in the south, the Baltic Sea with the Gulf of Riga in the west, Russia in
the east, and Belarus in the southeast. Latvia is largely a fertile
lowland with numerous lakes and hills to the east.
Government
Parliamentary democracy.
History
Baltic tribespeople settled along the Baltic Sea
and, lacking a centralized government, fell prey to more powerful peoples.
In the 13th century they were overcome by the Livonian Brothers of the
Sword, a German order of knights whose mission was to conquer and
Christianize the Baltic region. The land became part of the state of
Livonia until 1561. Germans composed the ruling class of Livonia and
Baltic tribes made up the peasantry. German was the official language of
the region.
Poland conquered the territory in 1562 and
occupied it until Sweden took over the land in 1629, ruling until 1721.
Then the land passed to Russia. From 1721 until 1918, the Latvians
remained Russian subjects, although they preserved their language,
customs, and folklore.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 gave them their
opportunity for freedom, and the Latvian republic was proclaimed on Nov.
18, 1918. The republic lasted little more than 20 years. Plagued by
political instability, Latvia essentially became a dictatorship under
President Karlis Ulmanis. It was occupied by Russian troops in 1939 and
incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940. German armies occupied the
nation from 1941 to 1944. Of the 70,000 Jews living in Latvia during World
War II, 95% were massacred. In 1944, Russia again took control of
Latvia.
Latvia was one of the most economically well-off
and industrialized parts of the Soviet Union. When a coup against Soviet
president Mikhail Gorbachev failed in 1991, the Baltic nations saw an
opportunity to free themselves from Soviet domination and, following the
actions of Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia declared its independence on Aug.
21, 1991. European and most other nations quickly recognized their
independence, and on Sept. 2, 1991, President Bush announced full
diplomatic recognition for Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. The Soviet
Union recognized Latvia's independence on Sept. 6, and UN membership
followed on Sept. 17, 1991.
Because Latvians' ethnic identity had been
quashed by foreign rulers throughout its history, the new Latvian republic
set up strict citizenship laws, limiting citizenship to ethnic Latvians
and to those who had lived in the region before Soviet rule in 1940. This
denied about 452,000 of the country's 740,000 ethnic Russians of
citizenship. But in 1998, a referendum passed easing the citizenship
rules.
In June 2003, President Vike-Freiberga easily
won reelection. In Dec. 2004, Aigars Kalvitis became prime minister,
forming the twelfth government since Latvia's independence from Russia.
The nation became a member of both the EU and NATO in 2004.
Valdis Zatlers, a medical doctor, was elected president by parliament in May 2007, defeating former constitutional court judge Aivars Endzins.
Prime Minister Kalvitis resigned in December
2007 following a series of widespread protests over his attempts to fire
anti-corruption investigator Aleksejs Loskutovs.
A series of riots over political grievances and
a worsening economy broke out in the capital, Riga, during January 2009,
leaving 25 people injured and 106 people arrested.
See also Encyclopedia: Latvia.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Latvia
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia www.csb.lv/avidus.cfm .
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
More on Latvia from Infoplease:
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