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: 62,249 sq km water: 2,340 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly larger than West Virginia
Land boundaries	total: 1,382 km border countries: Belarus 171 km, Estonia 343 km, Lithuania 576 km, Russia 292 km
Coastline	498 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: Gaizina Kalns 312 m
Natural resources	peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, timber, arable land
Land use	arable land: 28.19% permanent crops: 0.45% other: 71.36% (2005)
Irrigated land	8 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)
Total renewable water resources	49.9 cu km (2005)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 0.25 cu km/yr (55%/33%/12%) per capita: 108 cu m/yr (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, Desertification, 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