ing of 2004.

Geography Latvia

Location:
Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and
Lithuania

Geographic coordinates:
57 00 N, 25 00 E

Map references:
Europe

Area:
total: 64,589 sq km
land: 63,589 sq km
water: 1,000 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than West Virginia

Land boundaries:
total: 1,368 km
border countries: Belarus 167 km, Estonia 343 km, Lithuania 576 km,
Russia 282 km

Coastline:
531 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: Gaizinkalns 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)

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:
2,274,735 (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 14% (male 162,562/female 155,091)
15-64 years: 69.6% (male 769,004/female 815,042)
65 years and over: 16.4% (male 121,646/female 251,390) (2006 est.)

Median age:
total: 39.4 years
male: 36.3 years
female: 42.4 years (