August 12, 2023 - For the western countries it’s balanced by immigration, not many people immigrate to Latvia so we keep declining in population

3 days ago - Latvia is one of the most depopulating countries in the world, losing about 20,000 people every year. Between 1990 and 2024, Latvia's population decreased by 780,000 people, from 2.66 million to 1.88 million, or 30%, and continues to decline.

December 9, 2022 - “It’s an existential problem,” said Imants Parādnieks, the government’s demographics adviser. “Every nation has to renew. We will not stay Latvia without enough Latvians.” · One factor behind this dramatic decline is global.

July 30, 2024 - Assuming that in the long term the net migration rate stabilises at around zero, Latvia’s population will continue to decline, mainly due to the persistently high number of deaths.

Latvia’s demographic challenges are severe, marked by a declining and aging population, low birth rates, high mortality—particularly among men—and significant emigration. Since independence, these trends have strained the economy, labour market, and social welfare systems, exacerbating regional inequalities and prompting national discussions on sustainable development. Efforts to address these issues have been stalled by insufficient resources, limited coordination, and the inability of policies to meet families’ long-term needs.

October 2, 2024 - By contrast, Malta (3.9%), Luxembourg (1.7%), Ireland and Cyprus (1.4% each) had the highest population growth. In recent years, the population of Latvia has declined mainly as a result of negative natural growth, with the number of deaths exceeding ...

September 26, 2021 - Socioeconomic Pressures and Economic Conditions

Central Statistical Bureau data show that at the beginning of 2024 Latvia had a population of 1 million 872 thousand, which is 11.1 thousand people fewer than a year ago. Over the year population decreased by 0.6 %, of which a drop of 0.7 % was due to th...

Due to external migration, the population declined by 12,920. The sex ratio of the total population was 0.852 (852 males per 1,000 females) which is lower than global sex ratio. The global sex ratio in the world was approximately 1,016 males ...

June 2, 2025 - The population decrease was primarily driven by natural decline, as deaths outnumbered births, accounting for a 0.7 percent reduction. Meanwhile, more people emigrated from Latvia than immigrated in, leading to a further 0.3 percent decrease.

In the end, Latvia is a warning to other countries. Once the demographic tide is far enough advanced to result in absolute population declines over more than a decade, it's difficult to reverse the erosion.

In the nine months of 2023, negative natural population change caused a population decline of 9.5 thousand people. ... During the first nine months of 2023, 9 095 marriages were registered.

January 7, 2018 - ... “The reality is that we are losing people — fast,” Sjanits said in an interview in his spare office at the imposing foreign ministry building in the capital. To be sure, economic migration is not the only reason for the country’s ...

October 24, 2021 - Then, EU membership in 2004 led to another drop in population through migration. After that, the recession in 2009 and a resultant exodus of people. All this, combined with a low birth rate and high mortality rates, means that Latvia’s population has declined precipitously.

May 30, 2023 - In Europe, this process is more pronounced in peripheral areas than in the core regions, while the development of metropolitan areas is associated with suburbanization predominantly driven by young in‐migrants. Latvia is an interesting case study for studying population ageing and its spatial imbalances due to the key role of emigration in population decline and ageing.

August 13, 2025 - "The population decline is linked to the early-March expiry of long-term visas and residence permits issued to Ukrainian civilians, as well as a reduction in the number of births," said the CSB by way of explanation.

Economic migration has been the biggest factor behind this decline. Demographers are warning that unless the government takes specific steps to tackle the problem, the exodus will continue.

June 3, 2024 - The figure is declining rapidly, and moreover is the lowest one recorded over the past hundred years. At the other end of the life cycle, 28 031 people died in Latvia last year, which is 2 700 people or 8.8 % fewer than in 2022 and 19.0 % fewer than in 2021 when very high mortality was registered (34 600 people). Though still strongly negative, the natural population change has improved slightly in the recent years (from minus 17.2 thousand in 2021 to minus 13.5 thousand in 2023).

March 30, 2023 - According to the latest population projections issued by Eurostat, the EU’s population will decrease by 6% between 1 January 2022 and 1 January 2100, equivalent to 27.3 million fewer people. But for Latvia the demographic decline is predicted to be much steeper, with the country's population dropping below 1.5 million by 2045 and continuing to shrink to just 1.16 million by 2100 according to baseline predictions from Eurostat.

Answer (1 of 2): Many younger people and those who can afford to are leaving Latvia. Many of those leaving are of ethnic Russian heritage but many are of ethnic Latvian heritage. Most of the ethnic Russians leave because they are tired of being ...