Districts of Latvia

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Updates: 

I changed the last column in the Primary subdivisions table from Provinces to Planning regions, adding an explanation of the difference under Further subdivisions.

The seven independent cities of Latvia are geographically in the districts, but administratively separate. In the book "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries" I considered the cities as belonging to their districts. Here, following the standards, I list them separately.

I found the populations from Latvia's 2000 census on the Geohive  website, attributed to the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. The areas are available

FIPS uses different names for the types of primary subdivision: county instead of district, and municipality instead of city. It also says that the native name for district is rajon, which probably reflects the terminology of the Soviet era.

The U.N. Economic Commission for Europe has issued a study  which says, "At present, Latvia is divided into 26 counties and seven municipalities.... However, the administrative structure at local and regional level is undergoing extensive restructuring and there are plans for a further decentralization."

Erratum: In "Administrative Divisions of Countries", page 214, the ISO codes for two districts were inadvertently switched. The correct codes appear in the table below.

Country overview: 

Latvia in 1900 was part of the Russian Empire. On 1918-11-18, it declared its independence, with essentially its present borders. Latvia was occupied by the army of the Soviet Union in 1940, and became a constituent republic of the U.S.S.R. - the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic - on 1940-08-05. The United States never recognized the annexation. Latvia declared independence again, this time from a crumbling Soviet Union, on 1991-08-21.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Lettland, Letland
2. Dutch: Letland, Republiek Letland (formal)
3. English: Republic of Latvia (formal)
4. Finnish: Latvia
5. French: Lettonie f
6. German: Lettland n
7. Icelandic: Lettland
8. Italian: Lettonia f
9. Latvian: Latvija, Latvijas Republika (formal)
10. Norwegian: Latvia, Republikken Latvia (formal)
11. Portuguese: Letónia, Letônia (Brazil), República f da Letónia f (formal)
12. Spanish: Letonia
13. Swedish: Lettland

Origin of name: 

from ethnic name, possibly from Latve River near Vilnius

Primary subdivisions: 

Latvia is divided into 26 apriņķis (districts) and seven lielpilsētas (cities).

Note: Latvia uses four-digit postal codes. The numbers given represent the first two digits of the lowest postal code in the range for each division. "LV-" is prefixed to the postal code on correspondence from other countries.

The cities are all geographically situated in the districts of the same name, except for Jūrmala, which is in Riga district.

Further subdivisions:

According to the Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation , Latvia's local government consists of seven cities (which we count as primary subdivisions in the table above), 72 towns, seven novads (amalgamated territories or amalgamated municipalities), and 475 pagasts (rural municipalities). The Latvia Tourism  site says there are 496 parishes, probably meaning the pagasts. A 1998 document  issued by the European Council, titled "Structure and working of local and regional democracy: Latvia: Situation in 1998" says, "the administrative subdivisions of the Republic of Latvia are the regions and municipalities: the great agglomerations, the towns and the pagasts (rural districts). There are in all 26 regions and 560 municipalities: seven great agglomerations, seventy towns and 483 pagasts." (My translation from the French.)

There are also five planning regions, roughly corresponding to the old provinces (shown under Change history). The coverage areas are a bit different. Daugavpils district and city (now in Latgale planning region) were in Zemgale province; Dobele district (now in Zemgale) and Tukums (now in Riga) were in Kurzeme province; and Limbaži and Ogre districts (now in Riga) were in Vidzeme.

Origins of names: 

1. Daugavpils: Latvian Daugava: Western Dvina (river), pils: palace
2. Riga: possibly Old Lithuanian ringi: curve (in the river)

Change history: 

1. 1900: Present-day Latvia was in three Russian governments (guberniy): the southern part of Livonia, almost all of Courland (Kurland, Kurzeme), and the western part of Vitebsk.
2. 1918: Latvia was subdivided into provinces corresponding to its traditional regions.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Aizkraukle: Stuchka (Russian-obsolete)
2. Cēsis: Wenden (German)
3. Daugavpils: Dünaburg (German); Dvinsk (Russian-obsolete)
4. Jelgava: Mitau (German)
5. Jēkabpils: Jakobstadt (German)
6. Kuldīga: Goldingen (German)
7. Liepāja: Libau (German)
8. Ludza: Ludsen (German)
9. Rēzekne: Rositten (German); Ryezhitsa (Russian-obsolete)
10. Riga: Riia (variant)
11. Talsi: Talsen (German)
12. Tukums: Tukkum (German)
13. Valmiera: Wolmar (German)
14. Ventspils: Windau (German)