Russia 292 km

Coastline:

498 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate:

maritime; wet, moderate winters

Terrain:

low plain

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m
highest point: Galzina Kalns 312 m

Natural resources:

peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, wood, arable land

Land use:

arable land: 28.19%
permanent crops: 0.45%
other: 71.36% (2005)

Irrigated land:

200 sq km
note: land in Latvia is often too wet, and in need of drainage, not
irrigation; approximately 16,000 sq km or 85% of agricultural land
has been improved by drainage (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

49.9 cu km (2005)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.25 cu km/yr (55%/33%/12%)
per capita: 108 cu m/yr (2003)

Natural hazards:

NA

Environment - current issues:

Latvia's environment has benefited from a shift to service
industries after the country regained independence; the main
environmental priorities are improvement of drinking water quality
and sewage system, household, and hazardous waste management, as
well as reduction of air pollution; in 2001, Latvia closed the EU
accession negotiation chapter on environment committing to full
enforcement of EU environmental directives by 2010

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

most of the country is composed of fertile, low-lying plains, with
some hills in the east

People
Latvia

Population:

2,245,423 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 13.4% (male 154,077/female 146,825)
15-64 years: 69.7% (male 760,976/female 803,106)
65 years and over: 16.9% (male 124,658/female 255,781) (2008 est.)

Median age:

total: 39.9 years
male: 36.9 years
female: 43 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

-0.629% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:

9.62 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:

13.63 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate:

-2.29 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Sex