Latvia: Flag and Facts
Latvia's flag has two maroon horizontal bands with a thinner white stripe between them, half the height of each maroon band.
- Official name
- Republic of Latvia
- Capital
- Riga
- Region
- Northern Europe
- Population
- 1.9 million (2025)
- Languages
- Latvian
- Currency
- Euro
- Area
- 64,559 km² (24,926 sq mi)
- People
- Latvian
- Calling code
- +371
- Highest point
- Gaizina Kalns 312 m
- Independence
- 18 November 1918 (from Soviet Russia)
- National symbols
- white wagtail (bird)
About Latvia
This is one of the older flags still in use. A medieval chronicle describes Latvian tribes carrying a red banner with a white stripe around 1280. The national colors are maroon and white, and the national bird is the white wagtail.
Eastern Baltic tribes merged between roughly the 8th and 12th centuries to form the Latvian people. Germans, Poles, Swedes, and Russians each took control at different times. A Latvian republic was proclaimed on 18 November 1918, but the USSR annexed it in 1940, a move the US never accepted. Independence was declared again in 1990 and restored in 1991, and the last Russian troops left in 1994. Since then Latvia has joined NATO and the EU (2004), the euro zone (2014), and the OECD (2016). The whole country is a low plain with wet, moderate winters.
Did you know?
- Gaizina Kalns, the highest point in Latvia, is only 312 m tall.
- About 621,000 people lived in Riga, the capital, in 2023.
- Latvia is slightly larger than West Virginia.
Want to test yourself? The random flag generator has a quiz mode, and the full flags of the world page shows every flag at once.
Questions about Latvia
What language is spoken in Latvia?
Latvian is the official language.
What is the national anthem of Latvia?
The anthem is Dievs, sveti Latviju!, which means God Bless Latvia.
Sources
- CIA World Factbook, checked October 8, 2026
- REST Countries data (mledoze/countries), checked October 8, 2026
- Flag artwork: flag-icons (MIT), checked October 8, 2026
Facts are compiled from these open sources and rewritten in our own words. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.