ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Latvia. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Latvia. Left-of-centre parties, led by the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, swept to victory in the March 2001 local elections. Problems surrounding the privatization of Latvia's remaining state-owned industries continued in 2001. Latvians can change their government democratically. However, Latvia's citizenship laws have been criticized for disenfranchising those who immigrated to Latvia during the Soviet period and who must apply for citizenship. The constitution provides for a unicameral, 100-seat parliament, whose members are elected for four-year terms by proportional representation, and who in turn select the country's president.
