Kronenburg Estates S.L.

Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a sovereign state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. Since its independence, Latvia has been referred to as one of the Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia in the northern region, Lithuania in the southern, to the east is Russia, and Belarus to the southeast, as well as sharing a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km². The country has a temperate seasonal climate.

Latvia is a member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, the country was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and as a high income country on 1 July 2014. A full member of the Eurozone, it uses the euro as its currency since 1 January 2014, replacing the Latvian lats.

Geography

Latvia lies in Northern Europe, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea and northwestern part of the East European craton, between latitudes 55° and 58° N (a small area is north of 58°), and longitudes 21° and 29° E (a small area is west of 21°). Latvia has a total area of 64,559 km² of which 62,157 km² land, 18,159 km² agricultural land, 34,964 km² (13,500 sq mi) forest land and 2,402 km² inland water.

The total length of Latvia's boundary is 1,866 km. The total length of its land boundary is 1,368 km, of which 343 km is shared with Estonia to the north, 276 km with the Russian Federation to the east, 161 km with Belarus to the southeast and 588 km (365 mi) with Lithuania to the south. The total length of its maritime boundary is 498 km, which is shared with Estonia, Sweden and Lithuania. Extension from north to south is 210 km and from west to east 450 km.

Most of Latvia's territory is less than 100 m above sea level. Its largest lake, Lubāns, has an area of 80.7 km², its deepest lake, Drīdzis, is 65.1 m deep. The longest river on Latvian territory is the Gauja, at 452 km in length. The longest river flowing through Latvian territory is the Daugava, which has a total length of 1,005 km, of which 352 km is on Latvian territory. Latvia's highest point is Gaiziņkalns, 311.6 m. The length of Latvia's Baltic coastline is 494 km. An inlet of the Baltic Sea, the shallow Gulf of Riga is situated in the northwest of the country.

Climate

Latvia has a temperate climate that has been described in various sources as either humid continental (Köppen Dfb) or oceanic/maritime (Köppen Cfb).

Coastal regions, especially the western coast of Courland Peninsula, possess a more maritime climate with cooler summers and milder winters, while eastern parts exhibit a more continental climate with warmer summers and harsher winters.

Latvia has four pronounced seasons of near-equal length. Winter starts in mid-December and lasts until mid-March. Winters have average temperatures of −6 °C and are characterized by stable snow cover, bright sunshine, and short days. Severe spells of winter weather with cold winds, extreme temperatures of around −30 °C and heavy snowfalls are common. Summer starts in June and lasts until August. Summers are usually warm and sunny, with cool evenings and nights. Summers have average temperatures of around 19 °C, with extremes of 35 °C. Spring and autumn bring fairly mild weather.

Demographics

The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2013 was estimated at 1.52 children born/woman, which is lower than the replacement rate of 2.1. In 2012, 45.0% of births were to unmarried women. The life expectancy in 2013 was estimated at 73.19 years (68.13 years male, 78.53 years female). As of 2015, Latvia is estimated to have the lowest male-to-female ratio in the world, at 0.85 males/female.

Language

The sole official language of Latvia is Latvian, which belongs to the Baltic language sub-group of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Another notable language of Latvia is the nearly extinct Livonian language of the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family, which enjoys protection by law; Latgalian – referred to as either a dialect or a distinct separate language of Latvian – is also formally protected by Latvian law but only as a historical variation of the Latvian language. Russian, which was widely spoken during the Soviet period, is still the most widely used minority language by far (about 34% speak it at home, including people who are not ethnically Russian). While it is now required that all school students learn Latvian, most schools also include English and either German or Russian in their curricula. English is widely accepted in Latvia, especially in business and tourism. As of 2014 there were 109 schools for minorities that use Russian as the language of instruction for 40% of subjects (the remaining 60% of subjects are taught in Latvian).

Religion

The largest religion in Latvia is Christianity