Latvia Municipalities

Latvia is flat, forested and wide: a country of about two million people laid out between the Gulf of Riga and the Russian and Belarusian borders. A round there rarely hands you a border to read, but the sign at the roadside names a town, and since 2021 the town belongs to one of 43 units, which is the tier this quiz is about.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Planning region: Riga Region, Vidzeme, Kurzeme, Zemgale and Latgale
In the game: 43 municipality or state cities

Start

What you are looking at

The 36 municipalities (novadi) that the reform of 2021 left, and the seven state cities (valstspilsētas) that sit outside them. Before the reform there were 119 municipalities and nine cities, and older maps and older road atlases still show them. The names are the nominative forms, so Siguldas novads is Sigulda.

Three cities share a name with a municipality, and the quiz asks for them separately: Jelgava City and Jelgava Municipality, Rēzekne City and Rēzekne Municipality, and Ventspils City and Ventspils Municipality.

The groups are the five planning regions, which are the historical lands in all but name, with the capital's commuter belt as its own.

How to place one

Start with the capital. Riga sits at the head of the gulf, and the Riga Region wraps it from the Baltic coast to the Daugava.
Split the country along the Daugava. The river runs from the Belarusian border to the capital. Latgale is the east and south of it, Zemgale the plain to the south, and Vidzeme the hills to the north.
Kurzeme is the western peninsula. From Ventspils on the Baltic down to Liepāja, with Dienvidkurzeme the large southern municipality.
Find the cities last. Each is small and sits in the middle of a larger unit of the same region. A tap area stands in for the ones too small to hit on the full map.

Every unit, by region

Riga Region12 units: Ādaži, Ķekava, Mārupe, Ogre, Olaine, Ropaži, Salaspils, Saulkrasti, Sigulda, Tukums, Jūrmala, Riga
Vidzeme8 units: Alūksne, Cēsis, Gulbene, Limbaži, Madona, Smiltene, Valka, Valmiera
Kurzeme7 units: Kuldīga, Saldus, Talsi, Ventspils Municipality, Dienvidkurzeme, Liepāja, Ventspils City
Zemgale6 units: Aizkraukle, Bauska, Dobele, Jelgava Municipality, Jēkabpils, Jelgava City
Latgale10 units: Balvi, Krāslava, Līvāni, Ludza, Preiļi, Rēzekne Municipality, Varakļāni, Augšdaugava, Daugavpils, Rēzekne City

Worked examples

Riga

The capital

Riga is a state city and by far the largest settlement, at the mouth of the Daugava. The municipalities of Ādaži, Mārupe, Ķekava, Salaspils and Ropaži ring it, and Jūrmala runs along the coast to the west.

Rēzekne Municipality

A city inside its municipality

Rēzekne City is a state city in the east of Latgale, and Rēzekne Municipality is the larger unit that surrounds it. They are separate answers.

Dienvidkurzeme

The largest in the west

Dienvidkurzeme (South Kurzeme) was formed in 2021 from the old municipalities around Liepāja, and runs from the Lithuanian border to the Baltic coast.

Frequently asked questions

How many municipalities does Latvia have?

Thirty-six, since the reform of 2021, which took the country from 119 municipalities to 36. Seven state cities stand outside them, which is why this quiz has 43 answers.

What is a state city?

A city with the standing of a municipality of its own: Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Ventspils and Rēzekne. They are not part of the municipality around them.

What are the planning regions?

The five regions Latvia reports its statistics and plans its development under: Riga Region, Vidzeme, Kurzeme, Zemgale and Latgale. Learning them first narrows a round down to a part of the country before the unit has to be found.

For another country at this level, see Croatia Counties.

Sources

geoBoundaries, Latvia ADM1, the boundaries; Natural Earth still draws the districts the reform abolished
Administrative divisions of Latvia, the municipalities, the state cities and the reform of 2021
Planning regions of Latvia, the five regions the units are grouped into

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