By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
Staff Writer

The Republic of Latvia, with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south, is one of the former Soviet republics often referred to collectively as “the Baltics.” Capital is Riga, form of government a constitutional republic.

Location: Northern Europe; western border on Baltic Sea which lies between former U.S.S.R. and Sweden; Estonia and Lithuania north and south, and Russia and Belorus to the east.

Area: 24,900 square miles, slightly larger than West Virginia; flat coastal plain, inland hilly with forests and lakes.

Population: 2.6 million-plus (1994), about three-fourths urban.

Ethnic makeup: 52 percent Lett (Latvian), 34 percent Russian, remaining Byelorussian, Ukrainian, Polish.

Religion: predominantly Protestant (Lutheran); Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox.

Language: officially Latvian, an Indo-European language similar only to Lithuanian Russian; English and German widely spoken.

Education: compulsory and free for ages 7 through 16; secondary or vocational school optional, with fee; college and university for academic degrees like the bachelor's and master's.

Climate: moderate maritime climate, seasonally rainy.

Economy: a free market economy now based on industry, some fishing and forest products; caught in same crunch affecting all former East Bloc countries — incomes low, unemployment high, more than two-thirds of population near or below poverty level.

History: successively dominated since 13th century by Germany, Poland, Sweden, Russia; regained independence in 1991 after collapse of communism, joined United Nations, held first parliamentary elections in 1993; sources refer to “200 good years under Sweden, 200 bad years under Russia.”