General Country Info

Welcome to Latvia!

Latvia is a country in Northern Europe, which shares land borders with Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south and both Russia and Belarus to the east. It is seperated from Sweden in the west by Baltic Sea. Latvia has been a member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004.
Latvia is divided into four historical and cultural regions: Latgale (eastern part of Latvia), Zemgale (southern part), Kurzeme (western part), Vidzeme (middle and northern part).
The capital of Latvia is Riga and the official language is Latvian. Russian is by far the most widespread minority language, also spoken, or at least understood, by large sections of the non-Russian population.
Country has moderate climate with considerablle temperature variations. The summers are warm, but the winters can ve very cold. The weather in autumn and spring is relatively mild. Average temperature: July +18,1 C, February -5,0 C.

Area: 64 589 km2
Population: 2 306 434
Ethnic groups: 59% Latvians, 28,5% Russians, 3,8 Belarusian, 2,5% Ukrainian, 2,5 Polish, 3,7% Others.