Latvia is a country in northeast Europe on the Baltic Sea, with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. People group the three as the Baltic states. Riga is the capital. It was part of the Soviet Union for much of the twentieth century, became independent again in 1991, and joined the EU in 2004. It is a small country: a 2014 count put the population a little over two million, and the number has been falling as many people go west for work. In English we say Latvia for the place; the people and the language are Latvian. Though actually, students often mix up the three Baltic names — Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia — because they sit in a tight row on the map and all used to be Soviet.