Talsi District

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Talsi District
Country	Latvia
Population	49,662 inhabitants
Area	2,744 km²
Population density	18.10 inhabitants/km²
Website	talsurajons.lv/

The Talsi District (Latvian: Talsu rajons) is an administrative division of Latvia, located in the Courland region, in the country's west. It is one of the 26 rural districts of Latvia and it consists of 20 local communities.

These include three towns:

• Talsi (12,391 inhabitants) - the center of the district
• Valdemārpils town with its rural territory
• Stende town
• one region - Sabile Region, including Sabile Town;
• 16 rural municipalities (pagasts): Balgale, Dundaga, Gibuli, Ive, Kulciems, Laidze, Lauciene, Libagi, Lube, Mērsrags, Roja, Strazde, Valdgale, Vandzene and Virbi.

Talsi District is located in the northern part of the Courland. It borders on the districts of Ventspils, Kuldiga and Tukums. It is surrounded by the 96 km long shoreline of the Gulf of Riga and the Irbe Strait.

The district measures 2,751 square km, or 4,1% of the whole territory of Latvia. Woodland covers 55% of Talsi district territory, 29% is agricultural land, 3.5% is water, and 3.4% (9,400 h) is swamps, of which peat production covers 1,700 h.

The highest point in Talsi is Kamparkalns (174m above sea level) at Talsi Hillock.

The total population is 49,842 people, or 2,1% of whole population of Latvia. Nationalities include Latvians - 92%, Russians - 4%, other (Gypsies, Belarusians and Ukrainians) - 4%. The population density is 18 people per square km, compared to the national density of 38 people per square km. 63.5% of the population is urban, and 36.5% is rural.

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