100 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area-comparative: slightly larger than West Virginia

Land boundaries:
total: 1,150 km
border countries: Belarus 141 km, Estonia 339 km, Lithuania 453 km,
Russia 217 km

Coastline: 531 km

Maritime claims:
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 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: Gaizinkalns 312 m

Natural resources: minimal; amber, peat, limestone, dolomite

Land use:
arable land: 27%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 13%
forests and woodland: 46%
other: 14% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 160 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment-current issues: air and water pollution because of a lack
of waste conversion equipment; Gulf of Riga and Daugava River heavily
polluted; contamination of soil and groundwater with chemicals and
petroleum products at military bases

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous
Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

@Latvia:People

Population: 2,385,396 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (male 227,634; female 218,321)
15-64 years: 66% (male 754,416; female 829,801)
65 years and over: 15% (male 113,925; female 241,299) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: -1.41% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 8.14 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 15.78 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -6.47 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.9 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.47 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 17.44 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 67.11 years
male: 61.02 years
female: 73.5 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.2 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Latvian(s)
adjective: Latvian

Ethnic groups: Latvian 56.5%, Russian 30.4%, Byelorussian 4.3%,
Ukrainian 2.8%, Polish 2.6%, other 3.4%

Religions: Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox

Languages: Lettish (official), Lithuanian, Russian, other

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: