Country · Europe
Latvia
Republic of Latvia
Latvia is a country in Northern Europe. Its capital city is Riga. About 1.9 million people live there, in an area of 64 559 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Artis Pupins (CC BY 2.0) · Artis Pupins (CC BY 2.0) · alinco_fan (CC BY 3.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Dmitrijs Purgalvis (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Latvia?
Latvia lies in Northern Europe, on the continent of Europe.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 6 345 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 498 km long.
It shares a border with 4 countries: Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania and Russia.
How big is Latvia?
Latvia covers 64 559 square kilometres.
That is about 25 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 122nd largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 29.9 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Latvia?
About 1.9 million people live in Latvia.
That is the 146th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Latvian.
They pay with the Euro (€).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 68 years.
The land of Latvia
The land in Latvia sits on average 87 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Its coast runs for about 498 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 25 days.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Latvia different?
A dish the country is known for: Latke.
Websites from here often end in .lv.
Latvia and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.3 live in Latvia.
It takes up about 0.05 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Europe it is the 24th largest of 45 countries, and the 34th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Latvia and its neighbours
Russia, its largest neighbour, is about 264.8 times bigger.
Russia has more people: 144.5 million against 1.9 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 1 live wild in Latvia: Moose.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Latvia?
The capital of Latvia is Riga. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Latvia?
About 1.9 million people live in Latvia, which makes it the 146th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Latvia?
Latvia borders Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania and Russia — 4 neighbours in total.
How big is Latvia?
Latvia covers 64 559 square kilometres, making it the 122nd largest country in the world. That is about 25 times the size of Luxembourg.
Which continent is Latvia in?
Latvia is in Europe, in the part called Northern Europe.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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