Latvia overview
Latvia is an independent state in Northern Europe, and a member of the United Nations. In formal use it is Republic of Latvia. Riga is the capital.
Around 1.9 million people live there, placing it 150th of 249 by population — between Equatorial Guinea above it and North Macedonia below. Within Northern Europe alone it is the 8th largest of 16 and the 8th most populous.
By land area it covers 64,559 km², which ranks it 125th of the 249 countries and territories in this dataset — just behind Lithuania and just ahead of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. For scale, it is a fraction smaller than Ireland.
Latvia and its neighbours, side by side
Latvia has 4 land neighbours, and together they hold 156,927,099 people — about 84 times Latvia's own population. Sharing a frontier with that much weight on the other side shapes trade, migration and language in ways the map alone does not show.
| Neighbour | Population | Area (km²) | vs Latvia by area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | 143,533,851 | 17,098,242 | 265× larger |
| Belaruslandlocked | 9,132,629 | 207,600 | 3.2× larger |
| Lithuania | 2,888,278 | 65,300 | about the same |
| Estonia | 1,372,341 | 45,227 | 1.4× smaller |
By area the largest neighbour is Russia and the smallest is Estonia; by population Russia is the heaviest presence on the border. Taken together the neighbours hold more people than Latvia does, which is the usual situation for a country with several borders and rarely a comfortable one.
Latvia at a glance
- Capital
- Riga
- Population
- 1,866,124
- Area
- 64,559 km²
- Region
- Northern Europe, Europe
- Languages
- Latvian
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Calling code
- +371
- Internet TLD
- .lv
- People per km²
- 29
How Latvia sits on the globe
Plotted on a globe it falls at 57.0° north, 25.0° east, which puts it in the northern hemisphere, roughly 6,345 km from the equator, in what geographers would call high-latitude latitudes.
It borders 4 neighbours: Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania and Russia. The largest of them by area is Russia, which is also the most populous. Together those neighbours hold about 156.9 million people.
With both a coast and land borders, it has the trade options a landlocked country does not.
Where Latvia is on the map
The map below is centred on Latvia at roughly 57.00°, 25.00°. Pan and zoom to see how it sits against its surroundings — the shape of a country's borders explains a surprising amount about its history.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Population and languages of Latvia
Spread across 64,559 km², that works out at about 29 people per square kilometre, which makes it less crowded than the typical entry on this list. Half the entries in this dataset fall below roughly 91 per square kilometre.
Someone from Latvia is a Latvian.
Latvian is the only official language. No other entry in this dataset lists Latvian, so on this list it stands alone.
Inside Europe it places 33rd of 53 by population, and it accounts for 1.7% of everyone living in Northern Europe.
Money and language in Latvia
Latvia does not have the Euro to itself. It is one of 38 entries on this site that use the currency, whose code is EUR, and the others include listed below. A shared currency usually points at something real — a monetary union, a currency board, a former colonial administration, or a small economy pegging itself to a large neighbour's money — and it means a price quoted in EUR travels further than you might expect.
Latvian is listed for Latvia and for no other entry on this site. A language confined to one country is unusual, and it is normally a sign of long isolation or of deliberate revival.
Latvia within Northern Europe
Zoom in from the world to Northern Europe and Latvia sits 8th of 16 by population and 8th by area. Its immediate company in that ordering is Lithuania just above and Estonia just below, which is a more honest comparison set than a global league table.
United Kingdom is the largest of the group by population, and every entry in Northern Europe has its own page here if you want to work through the whole neighbourhood rather than one country at a time.
How big is Latvia, really?
Put next to every other entry on this site, Latvia ranks 125th of 249 by area and 150th by population. That works out at 0.043% of the combined land area of all 249 entries and 0.023% of their combined population. Those denominators matter: this list includes territories and dependencies as well as UN member states, so a rank here is not the same as a rank among sovereign countries.
For a sense of scale, the entries immediately either side of Latvia in the size ordering are Lithuania at 65,300 km² and Svalbard and Jan Mayen at 62,045 km², against Latvia's 64,559 km². If you can already picture one of those, you can picture this one.
Density tells a different story from either raw figure. Latvia averages 29 people per square kilometre of total area, which makes it thinly settled by global standards — 189th of the 247 entries that have both a population and a measured area. Total area includes inland water, so the true figure for habitable land is higher than this.
Currency, domain and dialling code
Money there is the Euro (€, EUR). That is a shared currency: 37 other entries use it, including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and Croatia.
Websites there use the .lv domain. Calls from overseas start with +371. Standard country codes: lv and LVA.
Riga is the seat of government and the answer most quizzes are looking for.
Latvia is one of the 192 UN member states in this dataset. The other 57 entries are territories, dependencies or observers, which is why totals on this site run to 249 rather than the familiar 195.
Latvia codes and abbreviations
Every country carries a small set of codes that quietly run the practical world — phone networks, web addresses, passports, luggage tags and dropdown menus. Here are Latvia's, and what each one is actually for.
- Calling code+371
- Dial +371 after your international access code to reach a number in Latvia.
- Internet domain.lv
- .lv is the country-code top-level domain, so a web address ending in it is registered to Latvia.
- ISO two-letter codelv
- Used on vehicle plates, in currency pairs and in almost every dropdown list of countries.
- ISO three-letter codeLVA
- The form you will see on passports, at airports and in sports scoreboards.
- DemonymLatvian
- The correct word for a person from Latvia, and for the adjective form.
Fun facts about Latvia
- In land area it is a fraction smaller than Ireland.
- Population density works out at roughly 29 people per square kilometre.
- Websites based there use the .lv domain.
- Its capital city is Riga.
- Its full official name is Republic of Latvia.
- It lies about 6,345 km from the equator, in high-latitude latitudes.
Latvia — frequently asked questions
- What is the capital of Latvia?
- The capital of Latvia is Riga.
- What currency does Latvia use?
- Latvia uses the Euro, written € (currency code EUR). It is shared with 37 other entries.
- Is Latvia a country?
- Yes. Latvia is a sovereign state and one of the 192 UN members listed on this site.
- Where is Latvia located?
- Latvia is in Northern Europe, part of Europe. Its reference coordinates are 57.0° north and 25.0° east, roughly 6,345 km from the equator in high-latitude latitudes.
- How big is Latvia?
- Latvia covers 64,559 km², ranking 125th of 249 by land area. That makes it a fraction smaller than Ireland.
- Which countries border Latvia?
- Latvia borders 4 countries: Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania and Russia. Russia is the largest of them by area.
- What language is spoken in Latvia?
- The official language of Latvia is Latvian. No other entry on this list gives it official status.
- What is the population of Latvia?
- Latvia has a population of about 1.9 million, which makes it the 150th most populous of the 249 countries and territories listed on this site. Equatorial Guinea sits just above it and North Macedonia just below.
