LATVIA| Capital: | Riga |
| Population: | 2,440,000 |
| Government type: | Parliamentary Democracy |
| Location: | Eatern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania |
| Area: | 64,589 kmē |
| Land boundaries: | Total 1,150 km; Belarus 141 km, Estonia 339 km, Lithuania 453 km, Russia 217 km |
| Ethnic groups: | Latvia (56.5%), Russian (30.4%), Byelorussion (4.3%), Ukrainian (2.8%), Polish (2.6%), other (3.4%) |
| Religions: | Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox |
| Languages: | Latvian (official), Lithuanian, Russian, other |
General
Along with most of the other small nations of Europe, Latvia shares a history of invasion by a succession of expansionist nations, e.g., Sweden, Poland, Germany, and Russia. After a brief period of independence between the two World Wars, Latvia was annexed by the USSR in 1940 under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The USSR recaptured Latvia from its German occupiers in 1944. Latvia reestablished its independence in August 1991, a few months prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union; the last Russian troops left in 1994. The status of ethnic Russians, who make up 30.4% of the population, is an issue of concern to Moscow. Unemployment has become a growing problem and Latvia hopes to receive an invitation to begin EU accession talks.
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