Zilupe Municipality is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in the historical region of Latgale

Latgale

Latgale is one of the four historical and cultural regions of Latvia recognised in the Constitution of the Latvian Republic. It is the easternmost region north of the Daugava River...

, and the Latgale Planning Region in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

. The municipality was formed in 2002 by merging Zaļesje Parish

Zaļesje Parish

Zaļesje Parish was an administrative unit of Zilupe Municipality, its administrative center being the village of Zaļesje.The place is close to the border with Russia, and the name of the village is a common Russian toponym meaning "place over the woods"....

 and Zilupe

Zilupe

Zilupe is a town of a few hundred inhabitants in Latvia, by the Zilupe River, on the border with Russia. Zilupe's railway station is the final station for the Riga-Zilupe train route, which is one of the longest passenger rail routes in Latvia...

. In 2009 it absorbed Lauderi Parish

Lauderi parish

Lauderi Parish was an administrative unit of the now defunct Ludza District in Latvia. As a result of the 2009 administrative divisions reform of Latvia; Lauderi Parish was absorbed by Zilupe Municipality....

 and Pasiene Parish

Pasiene parish

Pasiene Parish was an administrative unit of the now defunct Ludza District in Latvia. As a result of the 2009 administrative divisions reform of Latvia, Lauderi Parish was absorbed by Zilupe Municipality.- Towns, villages and settlements of Pasiene parish :...

, the administrative centre being Zilupe. Amongst towns and villages are: Zilupe

Zilupe

Zilupe is a town of a few hundred inhabitants in Latvia, by the Zilupe River, on the border with Russia. Zilupe's railway station is the final station for the Riga-Zilupe train route, which is one of the longest passenger rail routes in Latvia...

, Lauderi

Lauderi

Lauderi is a village in Zilupe Municipality in the historical region of Latgale, and the Latgale Planning Region in Latvia....

, Zaļesje

Zaļesje

Zaļesje is a village in Zilupe Municipality in the historical region of Latgale, and the Latgale Planning Region in Latvia....

 and Pasiene

Pasiene

Pasiene is a settlement in Pasiene Parish, Zilupe Municipality, Latvia. It is the easternmost point of Latvia and the easternmost point of the contiguous part of the Baltic States....

.

Ethnic composition

As of 1 January 2010 the ethnic composition of the municipality is as follows:

Ethnic group	Number	%
Russians Russians The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....	2014	54,23 %
Latvians Latvians Latvians or Letts are the indigenous Baltic people of Latvia.-History:Latvians occasionally refer to themselves by the ancient name of Latvji, which may have originated from the word Latve which is a name of the river that presumably flowed through what is now eastern Latvia...	879	23,67 %
Belarusians Belarusians Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...	605	16,23 %
Poles Poles thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...	88	2,37 %
Ukrainians Ukrainians Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...	61	1,64 %
Others	68	1,83 %