Country name: Republic of Latvia
Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania
Area: 64,589 sq km
Population: 2,274,735 (July 2006 est.)
Capital: Riga
Language: Latvian (official) 58.2%, Russian 37.5%, Lithuanian and other 4.3% (2000 census)
Natural resources: peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, wood, arable land
Government type: parliamentary democracy
Legal system: based on civil law system
Currency: Latvian lat (LVL)
The Republic of Latvia is a country located in the Northeastern part of Europe and it belongs to the Baltic States. Its total area is 64,590 square kilometers and it has a population of 2,260,000 people. The capital city is Riga. Latvia shares boundaries with four other countries: With Lithuania to the South, with Belarus to the Southeast, with Estonia to the North and Russia to the Northeast. The country bounds with Baltic Sea. The relief consists of flat lands with rising hills, but the highest point in the country is 312 meters. The climate is being influenced by the huge waives of air masses coming from the North Atlantic Ocean. Due to those facts, summers are cool and usually with high level of precipitation while winters are being moderate.
The region where the country is located nowadays, was invaded by one of the four Baltic tribes that formed the ethnic group of Latvian people. The region was successively overtaken by Germans, Swedes and finally by Russians. After the WW I , a republic was formed but in 1940 the Russians took control over the country and made it part of the Soviet Union. Latvia regained its independence in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country quickly shifted its economic and political attention towards Western Europe and, eventually, became a member of the European Union and NATO in 2004.
Latvians make up more than half of the population of the country. There is still strong Russian presence which is depicted by 30 % of the population being Russian. The rest of the population is comprised of Belarusian, Polish and other ethnic minorities. The religions are also diverse due to the inconsistent population. Lutheran is supposed to be the official religion, although Eastern Orthodox is significant. Roman Catholic is also practiced but generally the majority of the population are not affiliated to any religion.
Latvia is a parliamentary democracy. Its currency is Latvian Lat (LVL). 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 0.444 LVL while 1 Euro can be exchanged for 0.702 LVL.
The development of the Latvian economy has been very significant in recent years. The process of transformation started with the conversion of state-owned enterprises into private possession. However, the state still holds considerable shares in some of the large corporations in Latvia. Country’s accession in the EU has had a positive impact on the economic growth. The country has experienced the highest growth rates in the European Union. The average annual GDP growth since the beginning of the millennium has been of around 8 %. This has been achieved due to the increase in exports and stabilizing domestic demand. The greatest growth has been achieved in the service sector of the economy. The central bank in Latvia implemented policy of fixed national currency exchange rate. However, the country has been suffering of increased levels of inflation that started in 2004, succeeding its accession into the EU. The high inflation came not only as a result of joining the union but also of high oil prices. Because of the inability to fight inflation, the country’s joining the European Monetary Union (EMU) on January 1st 2008 had been postponed.
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