Transport and infrastructure in Latvia

Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Latvia with the average of all countries in Europe. Overall, the main traffic and transport routes are well developed and in comparatively good condition.

In terms of the length of its rail network, Latvia ranks 8th in the world with 0.99 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 1,860 kilometers long. Freight traffic on the rails most recently totaled 7.37 billion tons and kilometers traveled. Passenger traffic reached 360.80 million passenger-kilometers in 2021.

The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the 498 km of coastline. In 2020, about 462,000 freight containers were transported.

› Airports in Latvia

Back to overview: Latvia

Road traffic

The network of roads and highways has a total length of 70,244 km. For each of the country's 1.88 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 37.27 meters. This puts Latvia in 10th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note that the country's population density is very low at around 29 inhabitants per km². In this case, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.

With an average of 189 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Latvia is considered relatively safe. This corresponds to 9.7 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.

In Latvia, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. This rule was introduced at the end of the 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Latvia
Roadways	70,200 km	37,274.81 km	1,089.22 m
Railroads	1,900 km	987.00 km	28.84 m
Waterways	300 km	159.19 km	4.65 m
Commercial harbors	70	37.15	0.001
Airports	3	1.59	0.047

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Europe
Roadways	6,708,900 km	11,154.38 km	1,111.71 m
Railroads	258,600 km	429.97 km	42.85 m
Waterways	54,800 km	91.17 km	9.09 m
Commercial harbors	15,273	25.39	0.003
Airports	573	0.95	0.000

Data sources used

• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)
• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)

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