The Republic of Latvia

Statistics

National name: Latvija

President: Vaira Vike-Freiberga (1999)

Prime Minister: Andris Berzins (2000)

Area: 24,938 sq mi (64,589 sq km)

Population (2001 est.): 2,385,231 (average annual rate of natural increase: �0.7%); birth rate: 8.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 15.3/1000; density per sq mi: 96

Capital and largest city (1993 est.): Riga, 874,000

Other large cities: Daugavpils, 125,000; Liepaja, 108,000

Monetary unit: Lats

Language: Latvian

Ethnicity/race: Latvian 51.8%, Russian 33.8%, Belorussian 4.5%, Ukrainian 3.4%, Polish 2.3%, other 4.2%

Religions: Lutheran, Catholic, and Baptist

Literacy: 99% (1989)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1999 est.): $9.8 billion; per capita $4,200. Real growth rate: 0%. Inflation: 3.2%. Unemployment: 9.6%. Arable land: 27%. Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, potatoes, vegetables; beef, milk, eggs; fish. Labor force: 1.4 million (1997); agriculture and forestry, 16%; industry, 41%; services, 43% (1990). Industries: buses, vans, street and railroad cars, synthetic fibers, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, textiles; dependent on imports for energy, raw materials, and intermediate products. Natural resources: minimal; amber, peat, limestone, dolomite, hydropower, arable land. Exports: $1.9 billion (f.o.b., 1999): wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals, textiles, foodstuffs. Imports: $2.8 billion (f.o.b., 1998): machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels. Major trading partners: Germany, UK, Russia, Sweden, Finland.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 748,000 (1997); mobile cellular: 175,348 (1999). 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): 11 (1999).

Transportation: Railways: total: 2,412 km (1994). Highways: total: 59,178 km; paved: 22,843 km; unpaved: 36,335 km (1998 est.). Waterways: 300 km perennially navigable. Ports and harbors: Daugavpils, Liepaja, Riga, Ventspils. Airports: 50 (1994 est.).

International disputes: draft treaty delimiting the boundary with Russia has not been signed; ongoing talks over maritime boundary dispute with Lithuania (primary concern is oil exploration rights).

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 made up the ruling class of Livonia and Baltic tribes made up the peasantry. German became the official language of the region.

Poland conquered the territory in 1562, until Sweden took over the land in 1629, and ruled over it until 1721. Then the land passed to Russia. From that time 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. Latvia allied itself with Germany in World War II, and German armies occupied the nation from 1941 to 1943�44. Of the 70,000 Jews living in Latvia during the war, 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 throughout its history by foreign rulers, 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.

Latvia's bid to join the European Union was not accepted in talks that began in 1997. In addition to improving its administrative systems, Latvia was told that it had to speed up naturalization of minorities, in particular its large number of Russians. In 1998, a referendum passed, easing the citizenship rules, although it was still necessary to be competent in the Latvian language, which many believe is unreasonable to expect of older or poorly educated ethnic Russians. The EU began negotiations for the admission of Latvia in 1999.

In May 2001, Latvia and eight other central and eastern European countries declared their wish to join NATO in 2002, a "big bang" that would expand NATO to 28 members.

See Also: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia www.csb.lv/

(Source: www.infoplease.com )

(this website was designed using Microsoft Notepad, and is best viewed using a computer of some kind.) - Alex Martindale, for Kerry McGregor, 7/11/2001