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Capitals of the world
Riga, capital of Latvia: facts and figures
Riga is the capital of Latvia. It has about 610,000 residents, which makes it the 130th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 18 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Vilnius, 262 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Latvia |
| Continent | Europe |
| City population | 610,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 130th of 172 |
| Elevation | 18 m |
| Founded | 1201 |
| Time zone | Europe/Riga |
| Coordinates | 56.95° N, 24.11° E |
| Country population | 1,847,785 residents |
| Country GDP | 48.6 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $26,312 |
| Life expectancy | 76.4 years |
| Internet users | 92.7 % |
| Big Mac price | not reported |
Climate through the year
Riga averages -0.8 °C in winter and 18.1 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and July the warmest, and the city receives 736 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | -2.1 °C |
| February | -0.7 °C |
| March | 1.9 °C |
| April | 6.6 °C |
| May | 12.4 °C |
| June | 17.5 °C |
| July | 18.5 °C |
| August | 18.3 °C |
| September | 14.1 °C |
| October | 8.2 °C |
| November | 3.6 °C |
| December | 0.3 °C |
Nearest capitals
Distances are great-circle distances between city centres, which is what the Capitals game measures when it tells you how far a guess was from the answer. Vilnius is the closest capital to Riga.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Vilnius | Lithuania | 262 km |
| Tallinn | Estonia | 279 km |
| Helsinki | Finland | 361 km |
| Minsk | Belarus | 403 km |
| Stockholm | Sweden | 442 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Riga to a place and a number you already know: it is 262 km from Vilnius, and it is the 130th largest capital in the atlas. Then practise retrieving it. DailyGeo Capitals gives you one mystery capital a day with distance, direction, language and population clues, the memorising method explains the review schedule, and the capitals index lists all 172.
To see how Latvia compares with every other country on figures like these, the richest countries by GDP per capita ranks them on geopolitix, a country-ranking game by the same maker as DailyGeo.
Sources
- City population and coordinates: DailyGeo's own game data, the same figures the Capitals game plays with. Population follows the urban area rather than the commune, which is why no density is quoted.
- Temperature and rainfall: ten-year means (2015 to 2024) computed from ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Hersbach, H., et al. (2020). The ERA5 global reanalysis. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.
- Elevation: terrain height at the city's coordinates in the Copernicus DEM, read through Open-Meteo rather than taken from a curated claim.
- Time zone: resolved from the same coordinates.
- Country figures: the World Bank, latest reported year for each series: Country GDP, GDP per capita, Country population, Life expectancy, Internet users.
- Founding date: Wikidata, earliest recorded founding claim.
- This capital elsewhere: Wikipedia, UNdata, Wikidata.
- Method and limits: How this data was collected explains how each figure was collected and what it does not cover.
The short answer
Riga is the capital of Latvia, in Europe, with about 610,000 residents, averaging -0.8 °C in winter and 18.1 °C in summer.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Latvia?
Riga is the capital of Latvia. It has about 610,000 residents and lies in Europe.
How many people live in Riga?
About 610,000, which ranks Riga 130th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Riga?
Riga averages -0.8 °C in winter and 18.1 °C in summer, with 736 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Riga?
GDP per capita in the country is $26,312, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Vilnius, capital of Lithuania: facts and figures
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania: 580,000 residents, 95 m above sea level, -1.5 °C in winter and 18.4 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Tallinn, capital of Estonia: facts and figures
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia: 440,000 residents, 11 m above sea level, -1.6 °C in winter and 17.0 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Helsinki, capital of Finland: facts and figures
Helsinki is the capital of Finland: 1,300,000 residents, 7 m above sea level, -2.1 °C in winter and 16.7 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Capitals of the world: the full list by continent
Every capital in DailyGeo's atlas, grouped by continent, with population, elevation and winter and summer temperatures, each linking to its own data page.