Latvia
Riga · Northern Europe
Latvia is a country in Europe. Its capital city is Riga, the official currency is the Euro, and the main language is Latvian.
With a population of roughly 1.9 million people spread over 64,589 km², Latvia is the 148th most populous country in the world and the 122nd largest by area. That works out at about 29 people per square kilometre.
Latvia shares land borders with Estonia, Russia, Belarus and Lithuania — 4 neighbours in all. Its largest urban centres are Riga, Daugavpils and Liepāja. The highest point in the country is Gaiziņkalns, at 312 metres.
For scale, it covers almost exactly the same area as Lithuania, while its population is closest to that of Equatorial Guinea.
- Capital
- Riga
- Region
- Northern Europe
- Population
- 1,900,000
- Area
- 64,589 km²
- Currency
- Euro
- Main language
- Latvian
- Highest point
- Gaiziņkalns
312 m - Land borders
- 4
Latvia: things worth knowing
- Riga has one of the largest collections of Art Nouveau architecture of any city in the world.
- Latvia is about half forest, one of the highest proportions in the European Union.
- The Baltic Way of 1989 saw two million people form a human chain across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Latvia in context
Europe has 44 sovereign countries in total. Latvia ranks 34th among them by population.
See the full list of Europe countries, or browse all 195 countries.