Riga, Latvia
🇱🇻 Riga is the capital of Latvia and is the country's primate city. The city lies on a flat and sandy plain on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea.
Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In 2017, it was named the European Region of Gastronomy. Riga is a member of Eurocities, the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) and Union of Capitals of the European Union (UCEU).
Economy Riga is one of the key economic and financial centres of the Baltic States. Roughly half of all the jobs in Latvia are in Riga and the city generates more than 50% of Latvia's GDP as well as around half of Latvia's exports. The biggest exporters are in wood products, IT, food and beverage manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transport and metallurgy. Riga Port is one of the largest in the Baltics. It handled a record 34 million tons of cargo in 2011 and has potential for future growth with new port developments on Krievu Sala. Tourism is also a large industry in Riga and in 2016, Riga received over 1.4 million visitors. The city is served by Riga International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in the Baltic states.
In 1995, twenty Latvian banks organised the Riga Stock Exchange which was the first Latvian stock exchange in Riga.
Riga, Latvia
Riga is rated Gamma + by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) which evaluates and ranks the relationships between world cities in the context of globalisation. Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy.
Riga is the #97 city in the world according to the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) which evaluates and ranks the competitiveness of the major financial centres of the world according to a wide range of criteria – Human Capital, Business, Finance, Infrastructure and Reputation.
Riga is rated C by the Global Urban Competitiveness Report (GUCR) which evaluates and ranks world cities in the context of economic competitiveness. C cities are international gateway cities. Riga was ranked #99 by the Nomad List which evaluates and ranks remote work hubs by cost, internet, fun and safety. Riga has a population of over 627,487 people. Riga also forms part of the wider Riga metropolitan area which has a population of over 1,003,203 people.
Twin Towns – Sister Cities Riga is twinned with: 🇩🇰 Aalborg, Denmark; 🇰🇿 Almaty, Kazakhstan; 🇳🇱 Amsterdam, Netherlands; 🇨🇳 Beijing, China; 🇫🇷 Bordeaux, France; 🇩🇪 Bremen, Germany; 🇦🇺 Cairns, Australia; 🇺🇸 Dallas, United States; 🇮🇹 Florence, Italy; 🇱🇹 Kaunas, Lithuania; 🇺🇦 Kyiv, Ukraine; 🇯🇵 Kōbe, Japan; 🇧🇾 Minsk, Belarus; 🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia; 🇸🇪 Norrköping, Sweden; 🇰🇿 Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan; 🇩🇪 Rostock, Germany; 🇷🇺 Saint Petersburg, Russia; 🇨🇱 Santiago, Chile; 🇸🇪 Stockholm, Sweden; 🇨🇳 Suzhou, China; 🇹🇼 Taipei, Taiwan; 🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia; 🇪🇪 Tartu, Estonia; 🇺🇿 Tashkent, Uzbekistan; 🇬🇪 Tbilisi, Georgia; 🇱🇹 Vilnius, Lithuania; 🇵🇱 Warsaw, Poland; 🇦🇲 Yerevan, Armenia.