LATVIA STATISTICS IN BRIEF 2020 Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia Lāčplēša iela 1, Riga, LV-1301, Latvia Phone: +371 67366850 E-mail: [email protected] www.csb.gov.lv
© Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, 2020 Reproductions and quotations are permitted on condition that the source is stated.
ISBN 978-9984-06-549-6 (printed) ISBN 978-9984-06-550-2 (pdf) ISSN 1407-0634 (printed) ISSN 2501-0026 (pdf) 20-003-000
Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) has drawn up publication “Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020”. It summarises key statistics characterizing social and political situation in Latvia in 2019 and compares the data with previous years, as well as reflects latest trends in the socio-economic processes.
The publication introduces industry specialists, business partners, foreign guests and other interested parties to Latvia's socio- economic processes, economy and finance, population and social processes, sectors of national economy, as well as science and technology.
The statistics is compiled based on the data produced by the CSB as well as information of the Ministry of Culture, State Land Service, State Revenue Service, Latvian Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, as well as Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre. Information is presented in a form of short texts, tables, charts, and maps.
Latest statistics as well as data on longer periods are available in the CSB database csb.gov.lv/db.
You can download the publication “Latvia. Statistics in Brief” from the CSB website csb.gov.lv.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 1
Explanation of Symbols
- magnitude zero
... data are not available or too uncertain for presentation
pers. persons
°C degree Celsius
EUR the official currency used in 19 Member States of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain).
Eurostat Statistical Office of the European Union
ha hectare
GDP Gross Domestic Product
km kilometre
km2 square kilometre
quintile one fifth (20 %) of the number of surveyed households grouped in increasing sequence according to the disposable income per one household member
m3 cubic metre
GWh gigawatt hour
NACE Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (Rev. 2)
CIS Commonwealth of Independent States: Armenia (AM), Azerbaijan (AZ), Belarus (BY), Kazakhstan (KZ), Kyrgyzstan (KG), Moldova (MD), Russia (RU), Tajikistan (TJ), Turkmenistan (TM), Uzbekistan (UZ). Ukraine (UA) and Turkmenistan (TM) as associate members
PJ peta joule
t tonne
TJ tera joule
2 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB
Contents Territory ...... 5 Economy and Finance ...... 7 Gross Domestic Product ...... 7 Government Finances ...... 9 Price Statistics ...... 12 Financial Business Indicators ...... 15 Population ...... 17 Social Processes ...... 25 Earnings ...... 25 Education ...... 29 Culture ...... 34 Crime ...... 37 Household Income ...... 40 Employment and Unemployment ...... 43 Social Security ...... 48 Health Care ...... 51 Construction, Industry, Trade ...... 55 Construction ...... 55 Industry ...... 57 Retail Trade ...... 59 Tourism ...... 60 Agriculture ...... 61 Foreign Trade in Goods ...... 64 Transport ...... 68 Environment ...... 74 Energy ...... 76 Science and Information Technologies ...... 80 Research and Development ...... 80 Information Technologies ...... 82
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 3
28 Member States of the European Union: Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (HR), Czechia (CZ), Cyprus (CY), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Greece (EL), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Malta (MT), Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), United Kingdom (UK).
Territory of Latvia (64.6 thousand km2) is ten times smaller than that of France – the largest country of the European Union, slightly smaller than the territory of neighbouring Lithuania, but 1.4 times larger than that of Estonia.
Other European countries: Andorra (AD); Albania (AL); Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA); Belarus (BY); Switzerland (CH); Faroe Islands (FO); Guernsey (GG); Gibraltar (GI); Isle of Man (IM); Iceland (IS); Liechtenstein (LI); Monaco (MC); Moldova (MD); Montenegro (ME); Northern Macedonia (MK); Norway (NO); Serbia (RS); Russia (RU); Svalbard and Jan Mayen (SJ); San Marino (SM); Turkey (TR); Ukraine (UA); Vatican (Holy See) (VA); Kosovo (XK).
4 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Territory
The total area of Latvia occupies 64.6 thousand km2, of which 96 % are taken by dry land and 4 % by inland waters. Country has dry land border in total of 1 387 km and sea border in total of 513 km with Estonia, Russia, Belarus and Lithuania.
Administrative territories and statistical regions of Latvia at the beginning of 2020
Statistical regions: Riga, Pierīga, Vidzeme, Kurzeme, Zemgale and Latgale.
Administrative division: country has 119 administrative territories – 9 cities and 110 municipalities. Cities: there are 76 cities and towns in Latvia, nine of which have official city status: Riga (the capital and the largest city) Daugavpils, Jēkabpils, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Liepāja, Rēzekne, Valmiera and Ventspils.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 5 Cities, municipality towns and municipality rural territories at the beginning of 2020
ķ Ķ ņ ē Ū ņ ēļ Ē ģ ā ķ Ī Ē ī ī ā ē ē ļķ Č ā āņ ļ ā ē ā Ū M O ķ ū Ī Ā ā ā ā ē M O ļ ī ņ ē Ē ļ ī ā Ķūļ ē M O ē ā Ļ Ģ ļ ī Ī ē ņ M O ī ē ē Ā M O ī ķ ē Ē č ū ū ē ā M O ē ī M O Ī Ū Ī ā M O ā M O Ā M O Ā ā ā ņ č Ķ ķē ī ī Ē ļ ā ē ā Ā ū ē ē ņķ ņģ ķ Ķ ē ī Ķ ē ņ ē ļ ā ī ē ī ā ā ņ ē Ļ O ī M O Ļ ū Ļ ī Ā ķ āļ ē ē ī ā ā Ī ā ī ē īļ ļ ū ā ņ ē ū ņ Ņ ģ ņ ļ ā ā Ā ļ ī ā ņ ņ ē Č ļ ņķ ā ū ļ ī āņ ē ņ Ī ī Ī ī ļ Ļ ē ņ ņ ā ņ ā ļ ņ ļ ķ ī ēč ī Ī ķ ē ņ M M ā ļ ķ Ķ M M M M M ļ ķ ī Ū ī Ī ē M M M M M M M 01M
ņ č č Ž Ā Ž ā Ž Ž Ī Ī āņ Č Č ē Ž Ž Ž Ž Ž Ž Ķ Ķ ī Ž Ž Ā Ž Ž ī Ž Ž Ž Ž Ē ē ē Ļ Ž ļ ĻĀ Ž ļā Ž Ž ē ū ā ņ ņ ņ ē Ļ Ļ Ņ Ž ĻĀ Ž ļā ē ā Ī Ā ļ ļ Ž Ž ā Ž Ā Ž ā Ž Ž ā ņ ī ņ ķ ķ ĻŽ ļ Ļ Ž ļ ņ M O Ī ē ū ņ ņ Ē ī ļ ļ ē ļ ļ ļ Ž Ņ Ž ņ ļ ņģ ņģ ā ķ ķ ā Ž Ž ā Ē ķ ķ ī ā ē
ē Ķ ā M O Ž Ž ī ū Ū ā ē ā ū Ž Ž ņ ņ ē
6 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Economy and Finance
Gross Domestic Product
Economic growth continues In 2019, GDP at current prices comprised EUR 30.5 billion, while at constant prices of 2015 – EUR 27.5 billion. The growth rate of the economy amounted to 2.2 % in comparison to the previous year.
Gross Domestic Product and its changes compared to the previous year (at constant prices of 2015)
30 15.0 11.9 10.7
) 10.0 8.9 20 8.4 8.3 10.0 7.1 6.4 6.3 6.3 5.6 4.1 3.8 4.3 10 3.3 5.0
billion EUR 2.8 2.5 2.3 2.2 ( 1.9 1.8
0 0.0 (%) 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 -10 -3.3 -5.0 -4.5
-20 -10.0
-14.2 -30 -15.0 Volume Changes compared to the previous year
Gross Domestic Product at current and constant prices
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Total (thousand EUR) at current prices 24 425 959 25 072 638 26 797 833 29 056 050 30 476 087 at prices of the previous year 24 425 416 24 859 229 26 022 217 27 946 069 29 694 545 at constant prices of 2015 24 425 959 24 859 229 25 800 726 26 906 242 27 497 491
Per capita (EUR) at current prices 12 353 12 796 13 805 15 084 15 928 at prices of the previous year 12 353 12 688 13 405 14 508 15 519 at constant prices of 2015 12 353 12 688 13 291 13 968 14 371
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 7 Value added structure and changes by economic activity; 2019
Changes, 2019, compared at current to 2018, prices at constant prices of 2015
(A–T) Total value added (%) 100 2.5 (A) Agriculture, forestry and fishing 4.3 12.8 (B, C, D, E) Mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water 15.2 1.0 supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (F) Construction 6.8 2.9 (G, H, I) Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; transportation and storage; 24.3 1.5 accommodation and food service activities (J) Information and communication 5.8 2.0 (K) Financial and insurance activities 3.2 -8.8 (L) Real estate activities 12.4 1.4 (M, N) Professional, scientific and technical services; administrative and support service activities 8.3 7.1 (O, P, Q) Public administration and defence, compulsory social security; education; human health and social 16.6 3.9 work activities (R, S, T) Arts, entertainment and recreation; other service activities; activities of households as employers 3.1 4.4
GDP changes as compared to the previous year in the EU countries, 2019 6.0 5.5 (at constant prices of 2015, %)
4.9 5.0 4.4 4.3 4.1 4.1 3.9 4.0 3.4 3.2 2.9 3.0 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.0 1.9 1.8 2.0 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.0 1.0 0.6 0.3
0.0 Italy Malta Spain Latvia EU-28 Poland France Cyprus Greece Austria Ireland Croatia Finland Estonia Czechia Sweden Belgium Bulgaria Portugal Slovakia Hungary Slovenia Romania Denmark Lithuania Germany Netherlands Luxembourg UnitedKingdom
Data source: Eurostat [TEC00115] 25.03.2020.
8 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Government Finances
General government budget As compared to 2018, in 2019 there was an increase of EUR 559.6 million in the general government sector budget revenue reaching EUR 11 790.1 million. Expenditure in 2019 comprised EUR 11 853.3 million, which is EUR 379.9 million more than in 2018. Tax revenue continues to increase every year, in 2019 reaching EUR 9 513.0 million or 31.2 % of GDP, which is more by EUR 428.7 million than in 2018.
General government sector deficit, surplus (% over GDP) 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 3.0
2.0 1.4
1.0 0.0 0.2 0.0
-0.2 -1.0 -0.4 -0.5 -0.5 -0.8 -0.8 -2.0 -1.2 -0.6 -1.2 -1.4 -1.6 -1.4 -1.6 -1.4 -2.0 -3.0 -2.3 -2.7 -4.0 -3.7 -5.0 -4.3 -4.3
-6.0
-7.0
-8.0
-9.0 -8.7 -10.0 -9.6
Central government Local government Social security fund General government
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 9 General government budget deficit comprises EUR 63.2 million In 2019, general government budget surplus comprised EUR 8.2 million or 0.03 % of gross domestic product (GDP), and general government consolidated gross debt at the end of 2019 was EUR 11.2 billion or 36.9 % of GDP.
Key indicators of general government sector
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Budget deficit (-) / surplus (+) (million EUR) General government -348.5 38.9 -210.8 -242.9 -63.2 Central government -449.7 9.9 -227.1 -298.0 -526.5 Local governments 64.8 53.6 -74.2 -191.1 179.9 Social security fund 36.4 -24,6 90.5 246.2 283.4
General government consolidated gross debt at nominal 9 105.2 10 245.0 10 518.7 10 815.9 11 244.5 value at the end of the year (million EUR)
Over GDP (%) General government budget deficit (-) -1.4 0.2 -0.8 -0.8 0.2 General government consolidated gross debt at nominal value 37.3 40.9 39.3 37.2 36.9 at the end of the year
General government debt As compared to the end of the previous year, debt has increased by EUR 428.6 million or 4.0 % and comprised EUR 11.2 billion.
General government debt 12.0 60
48.1 10.0 50 43.9 42.4 41.6 40.9 40.3 39.3 37.3 37.2 8.0 36.9 36.9 40 ) EUR 6.0 30 (%) 18.6 billion
( 4.0 20 13.9 14.1 14.7 12.1 13.0 11.9 10.1 8.5 2.0 10
0.8 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.9 4.5 7.0 8.6 8.9 9.3 9.2 9.8 9.1 10.2 10.5 10.8 11.2 0.0 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Volume Share over GDP
10 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Structure of general government expenditure In 2018, expenditure on social protection (pensions, benefits, and other forms of social support) accounted for almost one third (30.2 %) of the total expenditure of the general government sector, 15.1 % were allocated to education, while 14.1 % – to economic affairs. Expenditure on general public services and health sector accounted for 10.4% in each. The remaining share of expenditure (19.8 %) was directed towards public order and safety, defence, recreation, culture and religion, housing and community amenities and environmental protection.
Structure of general government sector expenditure in 2018
General public services 10.4%
Social protection Defence 30.2% 5.5%
Public order and safety 5.7%
Economic affairs 14.1%
Environmental protection Education 1.5% 15.1%
Housing and community amenities Recreation, culture 2.9% and religion Health 4.2% 10.4%
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 11 Price Statistics
Price changes (as %, compared to the previous year)
Producer prices in Year Consumer prices Construction costs Housing prices Export unit value Import unit value industry
2015 0.2 -1.0 0.1 -3.4 0.3 -2.0 2016 0.1 -2.4 -0.5 8.5 -2.7 -6.0 2017 2.9 2.6 1.9 8.8 4.2 3.3 2018 2.5 4.5 4.4 9.6 3.2 1.6 2019 2.8 1.9 4.1 ... -0.2 -1.1
Consumer prices rose by 2.3 % over the year In December 2019, compared to December 2018, consumer prices grew by 2.3 %, of which prices of goods increased by 2.1 % and of services by 2.6 %.
Annual consumer price changes in 2019 (%)
-0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Food and non-alcoholic beverages 2.4
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco 4.3
Clothing and footwear 0.5
Housing 3.3
Furnishings 2.2
Health care 2.4
Transport 0.6
Communication 2.0
Recreation and culture 3.4
Education -0.5
Restaurants and hotels 2.7
Miscellaneous 0.3
12 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Compared to December 2018, in December 2019 the average level of consumer prices was mainly influenced by the rise in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, goods and services related to housing, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, goods and services related to recreation and culture, health care, as well as restaurant and hotel services.
Within the group of food and non-alcoholic beverages, prices went up by 2.4 % over the year. The most significant rise having notable influence on price changes over the whole 2019 was recorded in prices of meat and meat products. Upturn was also registered in prices of fresh fruit, bread, and sugar. Along with the price decline on global markets, reduction was observed in prices of coffee, milk, and fresh vegetables.
The average level of alcoholic beverage and tobacco product prices went up by 4.3 %. Prices of alcoholic beverages increased by 3.9 %. Due to the higher excise duty on cigarettes, prices of tobacco products increased on average by 4.9 %.
Increase in prices of several public utilities resulted in 3.3 % upturn in prices of goods and services related to housing. Growth in prices of dental services and prices in medical specialist practice led to 2.4 % price rise in health care group.
Prices of goods and services related to recreation and culture grew by 3.4 %. Over the year, rise was recorded in prices of package holidays, television subscription fee, as well as recreational and sporting services. Within the group of restaurant and hotel services, the average level of prices rose by 2.7 %, which was mainly due to the increase in prices of catering services.
The most significant upturns among other commodity groups were recorded in prices of petrol, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, telecommunication services, hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishment services, higher education, as well as garments. Downturn was registered in prices of diesel and motor vehicle insurance.
Annual changes of harmonised index of consumer prices in EU-28; 2019 5.0
4.1 4.0 4.0 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.7
(%) 2.1 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 0.9 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.5 0.4
0.0 Italy Malta Spain Latvia EU-28 Poland France Cyprus Greece Austria Ireland Croatia Finland Estonia Czechia Sweden Belgium Bulgaria Portugal Slovakia Hungary Slovenia Romania Denmark Germany Lithuania Netherlands Luxembourg UnitedKingdom
Data source: Eurostat [prc_hicp_manr] 01.03.2019.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 13 Over a year producer prices grew by 1.9 % In 2019, the average 12-month level of producer prices in Latvian industry increased by 1.9 %, compared to the average 12-month level of 2018. Prices of products sold on the domestic market rose by 4.0 %, of exported products remained the same, of which prices of exports to euro area countries grew by 0.4 %, but of exports to non-euro area countries – fell by 0.3 %. Production and trade of electricity, heat supply, manufacture of selected food products, as well as waste collection, treatment and disposal activities had the most significant upward impact on the producer price changes during the year. Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture, had the most significant downward impact on the producer price changes during the year.
Producer price changes in industry
20.0
16.1
15.0 11.8 10.5
10.0 8.6 8.0 7.7
4.5 3.7 5.0 3.4 3.1
(%) 2.6 1.5 1.9 0.4 0.4 -1.0 0.0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
-5.0 -2.4 -4.7
-10.0
Industrial production – total Products sold on the domestic market Exported products
Producer price changes in industry in 2019, compared to the previous year
Industrial Products sold on the Exported products production, total domestic market
Total (%) 1.9 4.0 0.0 Mining and quarrying 2.5 3.2 2.1 Manufacturing 0.7 2.1 0.0 Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply 5.9 5.9 - Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities 7.4 9.9 -5.6
14 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Financial Business Indicators
Key business statistics indicators by economic activity; 2018
Wholesale and retail trade; Services Total (at current prices, million EUR) Industry (B–E) Construction (F) repair of motor vehicles and (H–N; 95 (B–J; L-N; 95) motorcycles (G) without K)
Turnover 60 524.7 12 019.9 4 728.6 29 782.8 13 993.4
Production value 34 040.3 11 048.6 4 745.2 6 300.1 11 946.5 Value added 13 067.4 3 349.7 1 178.6 2 986.7 5 552.3 Purchase of goods and services 48 199.3 8 776.8 3 571.6 26 962.6 8 888.3 Personnel costs 7 233.0 1 786.0 717.5 1 626.7 3 102.8
Half of the total turnover of goods and services is comprised by trade sector In 2018, the total turnover of goods and services comprised EUR 60.5 billion; trade sector accounted for almost a half of it – EUR 29.8 billion or 49.2 %. In services and industry the respective indicator accounted for EUR 14.0 billion or 23.1 % and EUR 12.0 billion or 19.9 %, respectively, while in construction – for EUR 4.7 billion or 7.8 %. Compared to the previous year, the turnover increased in 2018, which was affected by rise in construction turnover by 21.5 %.
70
60.5 60 55.6 52.2 51.1 51.3 51.2 49.1 49.9 47.7 50 43.9 ) 39.1 38.1 40 EUR 29.9
billion 30 (
20
10
0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
B–E F G H–N; 95 without K Apgrozījums
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 15 2018 indicates growth in the value of products manufactured Compared to 2017, in 2018 the value of goods produced in enterprises increased by 10.8 %. In 2018, enterprises produced goods with the total value of EUR 34.0 billion (at current prices), the largest share of which was produced by enterprises operating in the services sectors (EUR 11.9 billion or 35.1 % of the total production value) and the industrial sector enterprises (EUR 11.0 billion or 32.5 %). The value of products manufactured by trade and construction enterprises comprised EUR 6.3 billion or 18.5 % and EUR 4.7 billion or 13.9 %, respectively.
Products manufactured and value added 40
34.0 35 30.7 29.3 28.7 28.6 28.4 30 28.0 28.3 28.1 24.7 23.3 ) 25 22.1 21.1 EUR 20 17.0 billion
( 15 13.1 11.7 11.1 10.7 10.6 11.1 9.6 10.1 8.8 9.2 10 7.7 8.1 6.9 7.4
5
0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Value of products manufactured Value added generated
Value added grows by 11.6 % Compared to 2017, in 2018 value added generated by enterprises grew by 11.6 %. Just as in 2017, the highest value added at current prices was generated by enterprises of services sectors – EUR 5.6 billion or 42.5 % of the total value. Lower value was generated by enterprises of the industry and trade sectors – EUR 3.3 billion or 25.6 % and EUR 3.0 billion or 22.9 %, respectively. The value added generated by construction enterprises amounted to EUR 1.2 billion or 9.0 % of the total value. In 2018, the value added generated by one employed person reached EUR 19.7 thousand, and it grew by 7.7 % in comparison to 2017. The highest value added per one employed person was recorded in industry (EUR 23.4 thousand), followed by services sector (EUR 19.2 thousand), trade (EUR 18.8 thousand) and construction (EUR 16.1 thousand).
16 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Population
Key vital statistics
1950 1970 1990 2010 2018
Population at the beginning of the year 1 884 077 2 351 903 2 668 140 2 120 504 1 934 379 Marriages per 1 000 inhabitants 10.2 10.2 8.9 4.4 6.8 Divorces per 1 000 inhabitants 0.8 4.6 4.0 2.4 3.1 Live births per 1 000 inhabitants 17.6 14.6 14.2 9.4 10.0 Deaths per 1 000 inhabitants 12.9 11.3 13.1 14.3 15.0 Infant deaths per 1 000 live births 70.0 17.7 13.7 5.6 3.2 Population change per 1 000 inhabitants 3.1 6.2 -3.8 -21.7 -7.5 Natural increase per 1 000 inhabitants 4.7 3.3 1.1 -4.9 -5.0 Net migration per 1 000 inhabitants -1.6 2.9 -4.9 -16.8 -2.5
Demographic characteristics of usually resident population at the beginning of 2019 (%) 0 25 50 75 100
Males 46.1 Females 53.9
Under working age 15.9 Of working age 61.3 Over working age 22.8
Citizens of Latvia 86.1 Non-citizens of Latvia 10.7 Foreigners (also stateless and not indicated ) 3.2
Born in Latvia 87.4 Born outside EU 11.2 Born in EU 1.4
Marital status single 42.2 married 36.6 divorced 12.5 widowed 8.7
Latvians 62.3 most in Alsunga municipality 96.5 least in Daugavpils 20.1
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 17 Population and population change Population of Latvia keeps declining. Since the beginning of 2010, it has dropped by 200 thousand people, provisionally reaching 1 million 908 thousand at the beginning of 2020. During 2019, population reduced by 0.6 % (by 0.7 % over 2018).
In 1959, urban population of Latvia constituted 51.7 % and exceeded rural population for the first time. Urban population kept prevailing over the rural one and in 2019 it constituted already 68.5 %, of which approximately one third of the total population or almost half of the urban population (633 thousand people) lived in Riga.
Usually resident population and composition thereof in urban and rural areas
3 000 2 668 2 552 2 509 2 382 2 500 2 352
2 080 30.8 2 121 ) 1 929 1 900 1 951 1 943 33.1 1 920 2 000 31.9 39.0 59.7 1 596 32.2 48.3 31.5 1 500 54.7 64.9 71.9 65.1 thousand thousand people
( 1 000 76.0 69.2 66.9 68.1 61.0 67.8 68.5 500 40.3 51.7 45.3 34.9 35.1 28.1 24.0 0 1897 1914 1920 1930 1940 1950 1959 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2019
Share in urban areas (%) Share in rural areas (%) Total population
18 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Usually resident population in cities and villages and population density in municipalities at the beginning of 2019
At the beginning of 2019, population density in Latvia constituted 31 person per km2. The lowest population density was registered in Rucava municipality – 3 persons per km2. The highest population density was recorded in the capital as well as cities and municipalities neighbouring it. Namely, population density in Riga constituted 2 500 persons per km2, while in Stopiņi municipality (one of the smallest municipalities in terms of its area – 53 km²) those were 211 persons per km2.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 19 Age and gender structure of population As indicated by age structure statistics, like in the great majority of the European Union countries, population of Latvia is ageing as well. At the beginning of 2019, out of 1 million 920 thousand people, children aged under 15 constituted 15.9 %, population of working age (aged 15–62) accounted for 61.3 %, and people over working age for 22.8 %. Per 1 000 inhabitants of working age there were 373 people at retirement age and 259 children aged under 15.
At the beginning of 2019, females accounted for 54 % of the population of Latvia. Males prevailed over females until the age of 38. Out of the total population at childbearing age (aged 15–49), the shares of both genders were equal – males constituted 50.6 % and females 49.4 %.
Just like in all EU countries, number of females exceeds the number of males – in 2019, per 100 males on average there were 105 females, moreover the greatest difference was observed in Latvia (117), Lithuania (116), and Estonia (112), whereas in Luxembourg, Malta, and Sweden number of males was slightly smaller than that of females.
Population age structure at the beginning of 1980 and 2019 age (years) 100+
90
80
70
60 average age
average age 50 (45.3) 2019
(39.2) 2019 (38.3) 1990 40 (32.9) 1980
30
20
10
0 25 000 20 000 15 000 10 000 5 000 0 5 000 10 000 15 000 20 000 25 000 2019 males 1980 males 2019 females 1980 females
20 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Ethnic composition of population During the recent years, the number of Latvians keeps reducing, meanwhile their share in the total population is increasing. At the beginning of 2019, Latvia was resided by 1 million 197 thousand Latvians, which is 62.3 % of the total population. Over the past eight years (since 2011), 117.4 thousand Latvians were born and 126.6 thousand Latvians died; due to natural increase their number diminished by 9.2 thousand.
Share of Latvians in total population (%) 0 25 50 75 100
1920 73.4
1935 77.0
1959 62.0
1970 56.8
1979 53.7
1989 52.0
2000 57.7
2011 60.5
2019 62.3
Marriages and divorces At the beginning of 2019, 41 % of the females of full age (aged 18 and over) and 50 % of the males of full age were married. Out of all full-age single adults of the respective gender, 65 % of males and 59 % of females were aged under 35.
In 2018, 13 058 marriages were registered. Over the past three years, number of marriages has become more stable and on average 13 thousand marriages are concluded annually.
The average age at marriage constituted 38 years among males and 35 years among females, and, compared to 2010, it has increased by almost four years. Age at first marriage accounted for 32 years among males and for 30 years among females.
In 2018, 5 967 marriages were divorced. The average length of marriage has risen from 12.9 years in 2010 to 13.5 years in 2018. Out of all marriages divorced in 2018, more than a half (52.4 %) had minor children (2 877). The highest EU divorce rate per 1 000 inhabitants was recorded in Latvia and Lithuania – 3.1.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 21 Birth rates In 2018, 19 314 children were born in Latvia, which is one thousand children fewer than in 2017. The fertility rate per 1 000 inhabitants accounted for 10.0. The average age of mother at childbirth constituted 30.5 years, and since 2000 it has grown by two years. The average age of mother at first childbirth accounted for 28.0 years.
Average age of females at first marriage and average age of mother at first childbirth 31 30.0 29.7 29.5 30 28.9 29.2 28.5 29 28.0 27.4 27.7 28 27.1 26.7 26.3 26.4 27 26.0 28.0 25.4 25.4 25.6 27.4 27.6 26 24.9 24.9 27.0 26.4 26.7 25 25.9 25.9 26.1 25.5 (years) 24 24.9 25.1 24.5 24.7 24.8 23 23.9 24.1 24.3 24.4 22 21 20 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Average age of mother at first childbirth Average age of female at first marriage
In 2018, Latvian total fertility rate constituted 1.6 (1.4 in 2010), which still is far behind the desired number of children needed for typical generation change (2.1–2.2). The total fertility rate constituting 2.2 in Latvia last time was recorded in 1986–1987 when 42 thousand children were born annually. The EU total fertility rate comprised 1.6 in 2018 (the indicator varied between 1.3 in Malta and 1.9 in France).
Total fertility rate 1.74 1.8 1.71 1.70 1.65 1.7 1.59 1.61 1.54 1.6 1.53 1.46 1.47 1.45 1.5 1.38 1.36 1.32 1.34 1.4 1.29 1.24 1.25 1.3 1.22 1.2 1.1 1.0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
In 2018, 61 % of births were marital (56 % in 2010). Number of second, third and fourth children is also rising as is their share in the total number of newborn. In 2018, 38 % of the newborn were second children in their families (34 % in 2010), 16 % were third children (11 % in 2010) and 4 % were fourth children (3 % in 2010).
22 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Mortality In 2018, 28 820 deaths were registered (constituting 15.0 deaths per 1 000 inhabitants). The average age of males at death accounted for 69 years and that of females for 79 years.
Natural increase per 1 000 inhabitants by administrative territory; 2018
As living conditions improve, life expectancy is growing as well. In 1924, life expectancy in Latvia accounted for 50.7 years among males and for 56.9 years among females, whereas life expectancy of males born in 2018 constitutes 70.1 years and that of females 79.6 years.
In 2018, Latvian male life expectancy was the lowest in the EU (Lithuanian indicator constituted 70.9 and Estonian 74.0). Also female life expectancy in both Latvia and Lithuania (79.6 and 80.7 in 2018, respectively) is amongst the lowest (82.7 in Estonia). Lower life expectancy is recorded only in Bulgaria and Romania.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 23 Migration Since 1991, population of Latvia due to the migration has dropped by 450 thousand people.
In 2018, 10.9 thousand people arrived in Latvia for permanent residence, whereas 15.8 thousand people left the country. International long-term migration has resulted in a population decline of 4.9 thousand people, compared to 7.8 thousand people in 2017. Out of the people who left the country, 13 thousand people were of working age (82 % of the emigrants). People aged 20–39 accounted for 8.7 thousand or 55 % of the emigrants. Half of the immigrants were at this age as well.
International long-term migration
60
40
20 )
0 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 thousands ( 4.1 4.9 5.8 - - - 7.8 7.9 8.7 8.8 9.2 9.4 - -20 - - - - - 10.1 10.6 11.0 11.6 11.9 - 12.2 - - 13.1 - 13.7 - - 14.3 - 15.3 - - 16.4 15.0 - - - 19.2 20.1 - - 22.4 22.8 - -40 - 32.3 - 34.5 35.6 - -
-60 53.5
- Emigration Immigration Net migration
In 2018, the share of males and females in the total emigrant number constituted 54 % and 46 %, respectively. Majority (70 %) of the female emigrants were at fertile age (aged 15–49).
Ethnic composition of immigrants shows that 26 % of the people were Latvians and 18 % were Russians, moreover 48 % of the emigrants were Latvians and 28 % were Russians. Latvian emigrants accounted for 0.6 % of the total Latvian population and Russian emigrants for 0.9 % of the total Russian population in Latvia at the beginning of 2019.
Out of the people immigrating in Latvia in 2018, 41 % came from the EU countries. Large share (37 %) thereof consisted of immigrants coming from CIS countries, e.g., Ukraine (13 %), Russia (8 %), and Uzbekistan (5 %). Out of the immigrants registered in 2018, citizens of Latvia – re-emigrants – constituted 45 %.
Out of the people emigrating the country in 2018, 84 % went to other EU countries and 7 % to CIS countries.
24 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Social Processes
Earnings
Wages and salaries rose by 7.2 % over the year In 2019, monthly average gross wages and salaries in the country reached EUR 1 076. Over the year, they rose by EUR 72 or 7.2 %. The average net wages and salaries calculated using labour taxes applicable at workplace constituted EUR 793 or 73.7 % of the gross wages. Over the year, net wages and salaries increased by 6.8 %, showing 0.4 percentage points lower rise than that of wages and salaries before taxes. In 2019, consumer price increase reduced purchasing power of employees by 2.8 % (real increase of net wages and salaries constituted 3.9 %)(1). In 2019, median monthly gross earnings constituted EUR 832 and net earnings EUR 613.
Change in average hourly net earnings (as %, compared to the previous year) 35 32.0
30 23.1 22.5 25
20 17.0
15 10.9 9.9 8.0 8.6 10 7.0 6.1 7.6 6.8 5.6 4.7 8.8 4.5 3.9 5
0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 -5 -2.3
-10 -7.5
In 2019, the highest earnings were recorded in financial and IT services where average gross earnings amounted to EUR 2 083 and EUR 1 731 monthly, respectively. Average gross wages and salaries in agriculture (EUR 1 035), manufacturing (EUR 1 040), construction (EUR 1 048), as well as transportation and storage (EUR 1 071) were slightly below the national average (EUR 1 076). Increase from EUR 976 in 2018 to EUR 1 105 in 2019 resulted in a rise of average earnings in health care above national average.
Similarly to females in other EU countries, also employed Latvian women earn less than men. In 2018, gender gap in hourly gross earnings constituted 14.1 %, however it is the lowest indicator recorded since 2012.
(1) Real wage index is calculated by attributing index of average net wages to the consumer price index.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 25 Monthly gross earnings of males and females in October 2018 (sections B–S, excluding O)
19
18 17.3 17.0 17.0 17 16.0 15.7 16 15.5 (%) 14.9 15 14.1 14.1 14
13 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Average gross earnings of males and females by economic activity; October 2018
30 27.6
25 21.7 19.7 18.9 18.4 20 17.9 17.0 14.1 15 12.7 12.5 10.7 10
(%) 5.2 5 3.6 2.7
0 -0.4 -0.4 -5 -1.8 -4.1 -5.0 -10 B..S B..S K D G L Q E C N J R I M H O F B P (excl. O)
B Mining and quarrying K Financial and insurance activities C Manufacturing L Real estate activities D Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply M Professional, scientific and technical activities E Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities N Administrative and support service activities F Construction O Public administration and defence; compulsory social security G Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles P Education H Transportation and storage Q Human health and social work activities I Accommodation and food service activities R Arts, entertainment and recreation J Information and communication
26 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Compared to other EU countries having national minimum, minimum wage in Latvia is one of the smallest. At the beginning of 2020, lower minimum wage was recorded only in Bulgaria. Compared to 2019, at the beginning of 2020 minimum wage rose in all EU Member States, except for Latvia, Spain, Belgium and Ireland. The highest rise in the minimum wage in the EU was registered in Poland – 16.8 %, reaching EUR 611 at the beginning of 2019. Minimum wage in Lithuania grew up to EUR 607 (by 9.4 %), whereas in Estonia to EUR 584 (8.1 %).
Minimum wage on 1 January 2020 (EUR)
0 250 500 750 1 000 1 250 1 500 1 750 2 000 2 250
Luxembourg 2 142
Ireland 1 656
Netherlands 1 636
United Kingdom 1 599
Belgium 1 594
Germany 1 584
France 1 539
Spain 1 050
Slovenia 941
Malta 777
Greece 758
Portugal 741
Poland 611
Lithuania 607
Estonia 584
Slovakia 580
Czechia 575
Croatia 546
Hungary 487
Rumania 466
LATVIA 430
Bulgaria 312
Data source: Eurostat [earn_mw_cur] 03.02.2020.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 27 Median monthly average gross earnings by territorial unit; 2019
(Employees are included in the territorial unit based on the actual residence. Monthly average income constitut e at least EUR 55.) (EUR)
Data source: Data of the State Revenue Service. Median monthly gross earnings is an indicator located in the middle of a gross labour income sequence listed in increasing or descending order.
28 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Education
Average level of educational attainment has increased In 2019, 30.5 % of population aged 15–74 had acquired higher education, which is 1.5 times more than in 2000. Over the period, the share of population having basic education or lower has dropped from 31.0 % to 14.7 %. The share of population having vocational/ secondary professional and general secondary education has stayed stable – 28.6 % and 26.2 % in 2019, respectively.
Population by educational attainment (%) 100% 10.7 4.8 2.8 2.1 12.5 2.2 8.6 18.4 14.3 22.7 20.5 22.4 75% 24.7 26.2 25.6 20.6 23.1 24.8 50% 31.9 28.6 31.4 35.0 31.8 31.1 25% 30.5 21.8 27.0 13.2 14.2 16.6 0% 1996 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 Lower than basic education Basic education General secondary education Vocational or secondary professional education Higher education
The most notable gender gap may be observed among the population having higher education (incl. doctorate degree) – 36.6 % of females and 23.7 % of males have higher education, and professional secondary or vocational education – this level is acquired by 31.3 % of males and 26.1 % of females.
Enrolments by level of education (ISCED 2011)
2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19
Enrolments (at the beginning of school year) 417 672 421 078 421 809 421 317 Pre-primary education (Level 0) 92 095 94 249 96 626 99 177 First stage of basic education (grades 1–6) 120 308 121 506 121 674 120 787 Second stage of basic education (grades 7–9 and vocational education) 56 128 56 282 56 501 57 009 (Upper) secondary education (grades 10–12 and secondary vocational education) 60 343 61 078 60 825 60 537 Post-secondary non-tertiary education 4 516 5 049 4 581 3 452 First stage of tertiary education (higher education) 81 972 80 623 79 406 78 229 Second stage of tertiary education (doctoral studies) 2 310 2 291 2 196 2 126
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 29 Pre-school education enrolments up by 2.6 % Number of children aged 3–6 in pre-school education has increased – 93.0 % of children at this age acquired pre-school education in 2018 (93.1 % in 2017 and 88.4 % in 2010). In 2018, 99.2 thousand children attended pre-school education institutions, which is the highest indicator recorded during recent years. In the school year 2018/2019, 79.6 % of children attended schools having Latvian as a language of instruction, while 19.7 % attended schools teaching in Russian. Nevertheless majority of children attended pre-school education institutions of local governments, the number of children in private pre-school education institutions keeps growing – 10.0 thousand or 10.1 %. Since 2010, the number of private pre-school education institutions has grown twice and changes mainly have affected Riga.
Downturn in number of general schools At the beginning of the school year 2018/2019, there were 740 general schools (including 60 primary schools and 280 basic schools) educating 48 640 students, as well as 322 secondary schools educating 149 249 students. Training was organised also in 24 evening schools, extramural and distance-learning schools (9 552 students) and 54 special schools (7 183 students). In the school year 2018/2019, total enrolments in grades 1–6 accounted for 120 787, in grades 7–9 for 56 823, while in grades 10–12 for 37 014 students.
Further education after basic and secondary school In 2018, share of basic school graduates which continue studies in vocational schools (34.5 %) has dropped by slightly more than one percentage point, while share of students discontinuing studies (5.4 %) has increased by 2.2 percentage points. Share of secondary school graduates who continue studies in higher education institutions and colleges (62.6 %) has risen by 3.9 percentage points, while 31.7 % of secondary school graduates discontinue studies.
Further education of basic school graduates Further education of secondary school graduates 100% 100% 5.0 2.1 5.1 5.3 4.5 5.4 24.3 21.5 29.0 31.7 36.9 32.8 34.8 29.9 32.3 75% 36.0 33.8 34.5 75% 4.3 12.0 5.7 15.0 4.2 7.6
50% 50% (%) (%)
74.2 63.1 65.0 60.9 63.2 63.7 62.6 59.0 60.1 56.0 58.9 59.6 25% 25%
0% 0% 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2018 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2018
Discontinue studies Discontinue studies
Continue studies in vocational school Continue studies in vocational school
Continue studies in secondary school Continue studies in secondary school
30 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Decline in vocational school enrolments At the beginning of the school year 2019/2020, 26.8 thousand students entered vocational education institutions, which is 1.4 % less than a year before. Regardless the fact that vocational education more commonly is chosen by males (55.1 % in school year 2019/2020), gender gap has been reducing over the past years (males accounted for 60.2 % at the beginning of the school year 2010/2011).
Majority of students choose engineering, manufacturing and construction (34.4 %) as well as services programmes (mainly hotel, restaurant and beauty services – 23.7 %). Compared to the previous period, the number of entrants has went down by 4.6 % – it accounted for 11.1 thousand students, and majority of them entered mentioned fields of education. In 2019, vocational education was acquired by 6.4 thousand students, and one third of them studied engineering, manufacturing and construction.
Vocational education enrolments
0 10 000 20 000 30 000 40 000 50 000
1995 23 122 19 255 42 377
2000 27 338 21 287 48 625
2005 25 379 17 358 42 737
2010 21 539 14 228 35 767
2015 15 758 12 180 27 938
2016 16 103 12 847 28 950
2017 15 800 12 728 28 528
2018 14 863 12 298 27 161
2019 14 748 12 024 26 772
Males Females Total
Vocational education enrolments by field of education; at the beginning of the school year 2019/2020 (%) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Engineering, manufacturing and construction 34.4
Services 23.7
Humanities and arts 15.8
Social sciences, business and law 11.6
Life sciences, mathematics and computing 8.3
Agriculture 3.1
Health and welfare 3.0
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 31 Rise in entrant number In the academic year 2019/2020, number of higher education institutions has not changed and constitutes 54 (29 universities and 25 colleges). Higher education was acquired by 79.4 thousand students, which is 1.2 % less than a year ago. In this academic year, 29.4 thousand students entered Latvian higher education institutions, which is 6.3 % more than a year ago and is influenced by the upturn in mobile student number. More than a half of the first-year students (57.1 %) were non-subsidised, and studies of 42.9 % of the students were state-subsidised.
Higher education enrolments 0 20 000 40 000 60 000 80 000 100 000
2015 77 817 6 465 84 282
2016 76 784 6 130 82 914
2017 74 038 7 564 81 602
2018 71 975 8 380 80 355
2019 69 260 10 148 79 408
Students who acquired previous education in Latvia Mobile students who acquired previous education abroad and study in Latvia to acquire degree or qualification
Total Similarly like in the previous years, also this year majority of the first-year students (10.7 thousand or 36.6 % of the entrants) entered programmes of social sciences, business and law. At the same time, higher popularity is gained by health and welfare as well as services programmes the number of entrants whereof has increased by 9.1 % over the year. In 2019, upturn in the entrant number was observed also in natural sciences, mathematics and IT programmes (of 9 %).
Higher education enrolments by field of education; at the beginning of academic year 2019/2020 (%) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Social sciences, business and law 33.6 Health and welfare 16.4 Engineering, manufacturing and construction 15.6 Life sciences, mathematics and computing 9.2 Services 9.0 Humanities and arts 7.8 Education 6.8 Agriculture 1.6
The number of mobile students (those who acquired previous education abroad and study in Latvia with an aim to acquire degree or qualification) keeps growing significantly. Currently in Latvia there are 10.1 thousand mobile students, which is 21.1 % more than last year and 93.1 % more than in 2014 when such statistics was compiled for the first time. More than a half (53.7 %) of mobile students have acquired their previous education in India, Uzbekistan and Germany. Unlike the gender shares among Latvian students, majority of mobile students (67.8 %) are males. The largest share of mobile students (2.3 thousand) study in Rīga Stradiņš University.
32 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Number of mobile students; at the beginning of academic year 2019/2020 (countries in which previous education was acquired) 0 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000
India 2 719 Uzbekistan 1 717 Germany 1 011 Ukraine 557 Russia 548 Sweden 456 Finland 317 Shrilanka 295 Pakistan 234 Kazakhstan 186 Norway 174 Lithuania 166
Azerbaijan 149 United Kingdom 144 Italy 136 Belarus 110 other countries 1 229
Gradual increase in teaching staff earnings As of 1 September 2019, the lowest monthly wage of general, pre-school, vocational, interest-related and professionally-oriented education teaching staff was risen from EUR 710 to EUR 750 per one rate or 30-hour working week. Additional funding for the wage increase in 2019 constitutes EUR 7 658 482, while the funding needed for 2020 and upcoming years comprises EUR 22 973 631. Until September 2022, it has been planned to increase minimum wage rate up to EUR 900 (1).
Expenditure on education by source of funds
1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 (2)2017
Total (million EUR) 284.2 503.4 844.6 1 138.7 1 473.4 1 344.7 1 431.8 Government expenditure 225.7 381.4 651.7 911.5 1 298.0 1 181.7 1 188.5 Private expenditure 58.5 116.0 179.7 185.2 153.3 149.5 218.8 Foreign sources of finance 0.0 6.0 13.2 42.0 22.1 13.5 24.5 Government expenditure on education, as % of the GDP 6.2 5.6 5.1 5.0 5.3 4.7 4.4
(1) https://mk.gov.lv/lv/aktualitates/pedagogu-algas-minimalo-likmi-no-1septembra-paaugstinas-lidz-750-eiro (in Latvian) (2) Includes education of children aged 0–2 in pre-school education establishments.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 33 Culture
Cultural institutions In 2018, there were nine state and municipal theatres in Latvia. In 2018, 30 documentary, 1 animated cartoon, 10 full-length and 7 short films were completed. Latvian movies in cinemas were seen by 556.8 thousand people. Data of the National Film Centre of Latvia show that the most popular full-length movie in 2019 seen by 227 thousand cinema visitors was “Dvēseļu putenis” (Blizzard of souls).
Activities of cultural institutions
2005 2010 2015 2017 2018
Museums, incl. branches; at the end of the year 130 120 113 115 115 Theatre attendance; thousand 2 070 2 419 3 260 3 715 3 774 Attendance per 1 000 inhabitants 925 1 153 1 648 1 913 1 958 Cinemas, at the end of the year 17 17 16 18 20 Attendance in cinemas and cultural centres; thousands 1 667 2 106 2 358 2 477 2 524 Attendance per 1 000 inhabitants 745 1 004 1 192 1 275 1 309 State and municipal theatres, at the end of the year 9 9 9 9 9 Theatre performances 2 786 3 020 3 253 3 342 3 473 Theatre attendance; thousands 760 843 975 999 926 Attendance per 1 000 inhabitants 339 402 493 515 480
Attendance of museums, theatres and cinemas (per 1 000 inhabitants) 1 958 1 913 2 000 1 812
1 750 1 648 1 490 1 500 1 301 1 321 1 235 1 174 1 153 1 250 1 093 1 016 1 284 1 309 976 1 275 925 1 181 1 192 1 000 1 124 1 159 1 074 1 066 1 004 1 001 957 750 908 515 745 462 490 494 484 493 491 480 500 391 402 339 341 371 367
250 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Cinema shows Theatre performances Museum exhibitions
34 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Libraries In 2018, there were 1 597 libraries in Latvia – on average one library per 1.2 thousand inhabitants. Compared to the year before, number of libraries has dropped by 52, whereas compared to 2010 – by 234.
Library activities in 2018
Loans, Number Active users million copies
Total 1 597 811 584 19.8 National Library of Latvia 1 26 218 0.4 Higher education institution libraries 48 99 984 2.3 Specialised libraries 27 8 873 0.2 Public libraries 789 415 949 11.0 General and vocational school libraries 732 260 560 5.9
Printing and publishing In 2018, out of 2 161 publications there were 1 578 original editions in total circulation of 1 347 thousand copies, 578 translated issues in total circulation of 779 thousand copies and 5 dictionaries in total circulation of 3.5 thousand copies.
Number of books and brochures issued
3.0
2.5
) 2.0
1.5 thousands (
1.0
0.5
0.0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
in Latvian in other Languages
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 35 Issued books and brochures by field of literature; 2018 (%) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Fiction (excl. children's books) 26.5 Reference books 22.4 Children's literature (popular science and fiction) 14.6 Science 10.4 Popular science 8.6 Memoirs 5.7 Applied 4.0 Religion 3.9 Education 2.3 Other 1.6
Issued books and borchures by language; 2018
Originals in Latvian 52.2% from English 13.1%
Translations into Latvian 24.8% from German 3.4%
from Russian 2.0% from French 1.3% from other languages 5.0%
Translations into other languages 2.0% Originals in English Originals in other 5.4% Originals in Russian languages 5.4% 10.2%
36 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Crime
Decline in recorded crimes In 2019, 39 906 crimes were registered, which is 7.8 % less, compared to 2018 (43 260).
Number of recorded crimes 70 62 62 62 57 57 60 56 53 52 51 51 52 50 51 49 50 48 48 47 46 50 44 44 43 42 41 ) 39 40 38 37 37 40 35
30 thousands ( 20
10
0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
of which serious Total
Recorded crimes
2005 2010 2015 2018 2019
Total 51 435 51 108 47 406 43 260 39 906 Intentional homicide 127 82 87 78 75 Aggravated assault 336 181 178 178 158 Rape 242 79 60 71 85 Robbery 2 163 1 072 779 534 493 Property theft (1) 23 924 25 659 21 804 19 440 17 578 Hooliganism 1 014 429 225 116 119 Violation of traffic regulations resulting in serious injuries 1 529 603 689 583 539 Illicit preparation, storage, and selling of narcotics 1 049 2 189 3 529 3 606 3 159 Serious crimes in the total number of registered crimes 17 706 17 239 15 511 11 526 10 073 Per 10 000 inhabitants 230 244 240 225 ...
(1) As of 2011, including fraud and misappropriation on a small scale.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 37 Number of recorded crimes per 10 000 inhabitants by administrative territory; 2018
(including attempted crimes)
Latvia 300 281
280 264 265 253 250 260 244 245 243 236 240 230 233 240 228 224
220
200
180 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
38 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Theft still is the most common crime In 2019, 17 578 thefts (including fraud and misappropriation on a small scale) were recorded, comprising 44 % of all crimes recorded. However, number of thefts has been declining over the recent years: by 9.6 %, compared to 2018, and by 31.5 %, compared to 2010. Approximately one fourth of the recorded crimes were classified as serious (25.2 % in 2019 and 26.6 % in 2018). In 2019, number of intentional homicide went down by 4 % – 75 cases of homicide were recorded (78 in 2018). At the end of 2019, prison population of Latvia comprised 3.4 thousand people, which is 3.1 % less than in 2018.
The share of juveniles in the total number of offenders is comparatively small: juveniles constituted 4.7 % of offenders in 2019. The share of female offenders (13.1 %) almost has not changed, compared to 2018 when indicator constituted 13.7 %.
Number of offenders
2005 2010 2015 2018 2019
Accused persons 17 025 15 848 10 060 9 375 9 408 As % of total number of offenders: females 11.2 14.6 14.4 13.7 13.1 juveniles 16.2 6.2 4.9 5.2 4.7
Convicted persons by type of crime; 2018
Property theft 37.5% Other crimes 46.7% 9 102 convicted persons
Rape Illicit preparation, storage 0.1% and selling or narcotics 12.5% Intentional Aggravated homicide assault 0.5% 1.9% Hooliganism 0.8%
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 39 Household Income
Rise in household disposable income In 2018, household disposable income reached EUR 546 per household member monthly. Compared to 2017, income grew by 11.7 % (rise recorded in 2017 constituted 11.8%, that registered in 2016 – 4.9 % and that in 2015 – 7.6 %).
Household disposable income (on average per household member monthly) 600 50.0 550 41.9 500 546 40.0 450 489 400 437 27.0 417 30.0 350 24.2 387 355 354
(EUR) 300 320 316 303 305 250 286 20.0 200 223 10.7 11.8 11.7 9.3 150 12.3 (%) 176 6.6 7.6 100 5.1 4.9 10.0 50 0 0.0 -50 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 -100 -5.7 -10.0 -150 -200 -14.8 -250 -20.0
Income Changes, compared to the previous year
Decline in population at risk of poverty In 2018, 434 thousand people or 22.9 % of the population were at risk of poverty (1), which is 0.4 percentage points less than in 2017. Disposable income of these people were below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold.
Reduction of poverty risk was facilitated by the increase of minimum wage (from EUR 380 in 2017 to EUR 430 in 2018), changes in legislation regulating social benefits (recalculation of separate pensions, better support for foster families and families with two or more children), as well as changes in application of population income tax.
(1) At-risk-of-poverty rate – share of persons with equivalised disposable income below at-risk-of-poverty threshold. At-risk-of-poverty threshold – 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income.
40 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Population at risk of poverty
600 40
559 563 35 500 517 30 463 446 400 432 437 441 434 418 424 425 25 388 388 387 25.9 26.4 23.5 300 23.3 22.9 20 22.5 21.8 22.1 21.2 20.9 21.2 (%) 19.4 19.0 19.2 19.4
thousands) 15 ( 200
10
100 5
0 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Population Share in total population
In 2018, as disposable income grew, at-risk-of-poverty threshold rose as well – to EUR 409 monthly in single-person households (EUR 367 monthly in 2017). In 2018, at-risk-of-poverty rate in households consisting of two adults with two children aged 14 and younger reached EUR 860 monthly (EUR 770 monthly in 2017).
At-risk-of-poverty rate keeps declining among children, while among elderly population it still is high For the fifth year in a row at-risk-of-poverty rate among children aged 17 and younger is reducing, and in 2018 it reached 14.5 % (17.5 % in 2017). The highest at-risk-of-poverty rate was recorded among population aged 65 and over – 47.9 %. Moreover, the highest rate was observed among single elderly people. In 2018, almost three fourths (74.9 %) of single elderly population were at risk of poverty, and over the recent years the share has been consistently high.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 41 Share of population at-risk-of-poverty by age group; 2018 (as % of total population) 60
50 51.0 47.9 40 41.8
30
25.1 25.1 20 22.9 24.6 24.1 20.3 16.4 16.1 16.7 10 14.5 15.1 13.8 12.8 13.6 12.0
0 Total 0–17 18–24 25–49 50–64 65+
Total Males Females
The smallest share of people at risk of poverty was observed among working population – 8.5 % in 2018 and 8.1 % in 2017. Significantly larger share was formed by unemployed people (57.7 % in 2018 and 59.5 % in 2017) and people in retirement (52.5 % in 2018 and 48.9 % in 2017).
Income inequality in Latvia still high Income inequality in Latvia still remains high. The latest data show that Latvian Gini coefficient (1) was the third highest among the EU Member States.
Gini coefficient
40 38.9
37.5 37.5 38
35.9 35.7 35.5 35.4 35.6 36 35.1 35.2 35.2 36.2 34.5 34.5
(%) 35.4 34
32
30 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
(1) Gini coefficient characterises inequality of income. It varies from 0 to 100. Gini coefficient is 0, if there is absolute equality of income (i.e., all population has the same income), but the closer it gets to 100, the greater is inequality of income.
42 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Employment and Unemployment
Labour status Based on the labour status population is divided into two groups – active (employed and unemployed persons) and inactive population (pupils, students, non-working pensioners, etc.).
Labour status of population aged 15–74; 2019
Persons fulfilling domestic tasks Persons on 4.0% Other child-care leave 1.8% 0.4%
Disabled, permanently disabled 3.4%
Non-working pensioners 13.4%
Inactive population 30.5%
1 399.5 Pupils, thousand students 7.5%
Active Employees population Unemployed 57.5% 69.5% persons 4.4%
Self-employed and unpaid family workers 4.9% Employers 2.7%
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 43 Active population by age group
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2005 12.1 23.3 49.2 15.3
2010 11.1 23.9 49.7 15.3
2015 8.3 24.3 47.2 20.2
2019 6.4 23.0 46.6 24.1
15-24 25-34 35-54 55-74
Activity, employment and unemployment rate of population aged 15–74
80
68.9 69.6 69.4 67.2 67.5 68.2 70 65.6 65.8 66.1 66.0 66.3 64.2 64.6 64.5 62.1
60 64.5 65.0 62.0 62.9 61.6 60.8 61.6 59.7 59.1 55.9 56.1 50 54.3 54.0 58.2 52.0
40 (%)
30
19.5 17.5 16.2 20 15.0 11.9 10.0 10.8 9.9 9.6 8.7 7.7 7.4 10 7.0 6.1 6.3
0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Activity rate Employment rate Unemployment rate
44 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB In 2019, 971.3 thousand people or 69.4 % of population aged 15–74 in Latvia were active. In 2019, compared to the year before, active population declined by 10.9 thousand people or 1.1 %, while activity rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points. Activity rate of males is higher than that of females – 73.4 % and 65.8 %, respectively.
In 2019, 910.0 thousand people or 65.0 % of population aged 15–74 were employed. Compared to the year before, in 2019 employment rate grew by 0.5 percentage points. In 2019, young people aged 15–24 constituted 6.0 % of all employed persons, slightly more than one fifth (22.9 %) were aged 25–34, almost half (46.9 %) aged 35–54, and 24.2 % aged 55–74.
In 2019, number of employed people increased in all economic activities, except for trade and services.
Employed population by economic activity
(NACE Rev. 2) 2010 2015 2018 2019
Total, thousand persons (1) 850.7 896.1 909.4 910.0 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) 73.3 71.1 63.3 66.3 Manufacturing, energy, construction (B–F) 196.2 211.8 214.7 215.5 Trade and services (G–N) 347.9 372.7 386.2 376.8 Other services (O–U) 233.1 240.1 243.3 249.9
In 2019, there were 61.3 thousand unemployed persons in Latvia. Along with the economic recession, unemployment rate grew sharply in 2009, reaching the peak value (19.5 %) in 2010. Since 2011, unemployment rate has been declining gradually and constituted 6.3 % in 2019. Unemployment rate among females still was lower than among males – 5.4 % and 7.2 %, respectively. In 2019, Latvian youth (persons aged 15–24) unemployment rate still was the highest in the Baltic states – 12.4 %. The lowest youth unemployment rate was registered in Estonia (11.1 %), followed by Lithuania (11.9 %).
During the recent years, approximately one third of the population aged 15–74 consists of people neither employed, nor actively seeking work (30.6 % or 428.2 thousand people in 2019).
(1) Number of employed persons includes also persons with unspecified economic activity.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 45 Unemployed persons by age group (%)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2005 18.3 22.7 46.3 12.8
2010 20.6 22.9 45.2 11.3
2015 13.8 22.7 46.4 17.1
2019 12.6 24.1 41.1 22.1
15-24 25-34 35-54 55-74
200 Registered unemployed persons (thousand persons) 179.2
162.5
150 130.3
104.1 100 93.3 82.0 81.8 78.5 76.4 78.4 68.9 67.0 60.3 63.1 59.6 57.8 52.3 50 38.0 38.1 39.1 34.8 33.9 34.7 35.8 35.2 31.9 30.2 32.5 32.3 32.5
20.6 15.9 9.4 8.5 24.2 61.3 56.9 46.0 33.0 27.0 24.3 22.5 18.1 14.9 12.1 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Unemployed persons of which long-term unemployed (>12 months) Recipients of unemployment benefit
Data source: Unemployed persons – data of the State Employment Agency. Recipients of unemployment benefit – State Social Insurance Agency data.
46 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Registered unemployment by administrative territory; at the end of 2019
Data source: Data of the State Employment Agency.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 47 Social Security
Expenditure on pensions exceeds two billion euros Data of the State Social Insurance Agency show that in 2018 the total expenditure on state pensions and social benefits comprised EUR 2 billion 832 million, which is EUR 219 million more than in 2017. State pensions accounted for the largest share of the expenditure (72.3 %), and the total expenditure on state pensions constituted EUR 2 billion 48 million (EUR 152 million more than in 2017).
Proportion of expenditure on benefits and pensions in GDP (%) 9.8 10.0
8.1 8.3 7.9 7.8 7.5 7.3 7.3 8.0 7.1 7.0
5.9 5.6 5.5 6.0 4.8
4.0
3.5 2.0 2.8 2.5 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.1 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.7 0.0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Benefits Pensions
In 2018, expenditure on pensions constituted 7.0 % of the GDP, which is 0.1 percentage point less than in 2017 (7.1 % of GDP). Expenditure on state social benefits, in turn, amounted to EUR 784 million, exceeding the expenditure of 2017 by 9.4 % or EUR 67 million. In 2018, expenditure on the state benefits comprised 2.7 % of the GDP, which the same amount spent in 2016 and 2017.
State social benefits As of 1 March 2018, family allowance for raising two or more children was introduced. In 2019, allowance was granted for 225.4 thousand children(1). The total number of children for which family state allowance was paid in 2019 accounts for 345 thousand.
(1) The Law on State Social Allowances and Regulations of the Cabinet stipulate that family allowance for upbringing of two and more children aged 1–20 constitutes EUR 10 monthly for two children and EUR 66 monthly for three children. The allowance for each next child constitutes additional EUR 50 monthly to the sum for the last child.
48 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB State pensions Compared to 2018, in 2019 the number of pension recipients decreased by 0.5 %, while the size of monthly pension paid increased by 7.9 %, reaching on average EUR 314.72. In 2019, monthly old-age pensions paid on average were by EUR 25.94 higher than those paid in 2018 and reached on average EUR 339.69.
Pension recipients
2000 2010 2015 2018 2019
Total (thousands) 638.3 574.4 570.1 556.7 554.1 Old-age pensions 513.7 475.9 466.7 452.9 450.5 Disability pensions 83.2 69.3 73.3 74.7 74.5 Survivor’s pensions 36.2 26.9 19.8 18.5 18.3 Service pensions(1) 5.2 2.4 10.3 10.7 10.8 Statutory retirement age, years(2) 62.00 62.00 62.50 63.25 63.50
Social protection expenditure by ESSPROS classification; 2018
Survivors Social exclusion Administrative 1.2% 0.7% Housing costs 0.4% 1.5% Other Unemployment expenditure 4.4% 0.03%
Disability 8.6%
Family, children 4 440 10.6% (million EUR) Old age 45.6%
Sickness, health care 27.0%
(1) As of 2011, the number of retirement pension recipients includes service pensions paid from the State Social Insurance Agency and State basic budget to the employees of the Ministry of the Interior, diplomats, prosecutors, etc. (2) The right to receive old-age pension is granted to women and men who have reached the age of 65 and whose insurance period accounts for at least 20 years. As of 1 January 2014, regulations on rise of the retirement age from 62 to 65 came into force.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 49 Decline in number of adopted children
In 2018, number of people in long-term social care institutions fell (from 13 310 people in 2017 to 13 013 people in 2018) as did the number of children under guardianship (from 4 459 children in 2017 to 4 398 children in 2018). Number of adopted children keeps reducing as well – in 2019, 150 children were adopted, which is twice less than in 2014 when 300 children were adopted.
Number of adopted children 300 300 267 256 252 245 243 246 235 235 250 122 204 199 196 180 186 200 110 132 160 88 105 99 128 112 157 127 152 150 88 90 150 30 60 46 103 127 94 100 102 108 15 178 147 140 136 142 135 130 120 128 131 119 50 111 111 114 79 83 69 50 42 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Adopted in Latvia Adopted to foreign countries Total
Number of children in social care centres 4.0 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.4 3.1 2.9 3.0 2.6 2.6 2.5
) 2.2 2.0 1.9 1.9 1.9 2.0 1.6 1.5 1.3 thousands 1.2 ( 0.9 1.0
0.0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
State (and contractual organisation) social care centres Local government and other organisation social care centres for children Total
50 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Health Care
Health care indicators (per 10 000 inhabitants) 60 46 46 43 43 37 38 39 40 34
20 11 7 8 8
0 2000 2005 2010 2015 2000 2005 2010 2015 2000 2005 2010 2015
Physicians of all specialities Nurses Physician assistants
Number of hospitals and hospital beds 300
250 269
200 211 188 150 183 145 142 137 141 100 57 111 89 120 56 55 87 102 50 81 87 57 63 62 67 63 62 42 30 0 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1958 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2017 2018 Hospitals Hospital beds per 10 000 inhabitants
Key health care indicators at the end of the year
2005 2010 2015 2017 2018
Physicians of all specialities (in main job) 8 207 7 951 7 626 7 289 7 101 Residents and physicians in service training 502 463 649 805 830 Specialists with higher medical professional education 299 519 980 1 078 1 093 Nurses with higher education 410 1 090 1 987 3 283 3 461 Health care professionals with secondary medical education 14 927 13 217 11 625 9 896 9 605 Hospitals 109 67 67 63 62 Hospital beds (annual average) 17 677 11 920 11 261 10 812 10 587
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 51 Number of medical practitioners keeps declining gradually In 2018, 7 101 medical practitioners of all specialities were employed in Latvia, which is 188 physicians fewer than in 2017. The total number of physicians in main job has been declining gradually since 2009. Over the past ten years, the sharpest drop was recorded in the number of oncologists, therapists, paediatricians, otolaryngologists and gynaecologists/ obstetricians, while number of general practitioners has gone up. In 2018, in-service training in health care institutions was underwent by 830 residents and physicians in service; during the past five years their number has gone up by 36.6 %.
Upturn in new cases of disability among persons at work In 2018, 16 301 new cases of adult disability was registered, and out of the number 6 102 persons were at work. Malignant neoplasms (24.8 %), diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (23.8 %), and diseases of the circulatory system (15.8 %) were the most common causes of disability among working population. Each fourth non-working person (22.9 %) with newly registered disability suffered from a disease of the circulatory system.
In 2019, number of new and repeated cases of children (aged under 18) disability comprised 2 490. Data of the Ministry of Welfare information system LabIs show that in December 2019 in Latvia there were 196 159 disabled persons, including 2 545 persons with hearing disability, 9 880 persons with vision disability, 34 107 persons with movement disability, and 27 129 persons with mental and behavioural disability.
New cases of disability
12.0 11.2 11.3 10.9 10.9 10.6 10.5 10.2 10.2 9.8 10.0 9.1
8.0 7.3 ) 6.3 6.5 6.0 6.0 6.1 6.2 5.7 6.0 5.4 6.1 thousands 5.7 5.6 ( 5.5 5.3 5.4 5.3 5.4 4.9 4.0 4.7 4.8 4.8 4.2 3.7 3.4 2.0 2.7 2.8 2.5 2.4
0.0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Persons at work Persons not at work
52 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Healthy life expectancy Healthy life expectancy indicators are acquired from information on chronic diseases and self-assessed state of health. In 2018, healthy life expectancy in Latvia constituted 51.0 years among males and 53.7 years among females. Latvian indicators are the lowest in the EU; the highest indicators are recorded in Sweden (73.7 years among males) and Malta (73.4 years among females). In Latvia, healthy life years comprise 72.8 % of male life expectancy and 67.4 % of female life expectancy, indicating that males tend to live greatest part of their lives without serious health problems. In 2018, the difference between male and female healthy life expectancy constituted 2.7 years.
Self-perceived general health In 2019, 42.1 % of the population of Latvia aged 16 and over had suffered from a long-standing illness or health problem. Some differences may be observed in breakdown of indicators by gender – 46.2 % of females had long-standing illness, while the proportion of males indicating that have suffered from such health problems was smaller – 37.0 %. Out of the total population of Latvia, 13.5 % had unmet need for dental care, however the indicator varies among different income groups. Unmet need for dental care was reported by almost every fourth (23.8 %) person with low income (belonging to the 1st quintile group), compared to only 6.3 % of the population with the highest income (living in households of 5th quintile group).
Self-perceived general state of health in 2019 (persons assessing health as good or very good; as % of total population in the respective group)
0 25 50 75 100
24 males 90.7 –
females 82.2 aged 16
49 males 69.4 –
females 68.2 aged 25
64 males 32.7 –
females 30.5 aged 50
males 16.0
aged 65+ females 11.0
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 53 Number of general practitioners in main job per 10 000 inhabitants by administrative territory; at the end of 2018
Latvia
8.0 6.8 6.8 6.9 7.0 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.0 6.1 6.3 5.5 5.7 5.8 5.7 6.0 4.5 4.6 4.1 4.2 4.0
2.0
0.0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Data source: Data of the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
54 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Construction, Industry, Trade
Construction
Volume index of production in construction up by 2.9 % Compared to 2018, construction output in 2019 increased by 2.9 %, according to calendar adjusted data at constant prices. Construction output rise was observed in all sectors – construction of buildings (of 7.8 %), civil engineering (1.0 %) and specialised construction activities (0.2 %).
In civil engineering, the most notable upturn was recorded in construction of roads and railways (of 7.8 %), while the most significant downturn in construction of utility projects (6.6 %) and construction of other civil engineering projects (that includes waterways, port and river piers, industrial complexes, open-air sports grounds, etc.) (15.7 %).
In the field of specialised construction activities, increase was registered in electrical, plumbing and other construction installation activities (of 5.2 %) as well as other specialised construction activities (13.9 %), whereas reduction in building completion and finishing (plastering, floor and wall covering, painting and glazing, etc.) (6.2 %) and demolition and site preparation (29.0 %).
Changes in construction output (compared to previous year)
2005 2010 2015 2018 2019
Total (non-adjusted data, %) (F) 14.3 -15.7 -0.6 21.9 2.9 Construction of buildings (F41) 19.3 -14.7 -8.2 25.6 7.8 Civil engineering (F42) 18.5 -13.3 0.4 11.6 1.0 Specialised construction activities (F43) 7.5 -18.8 5.9 27.8 0.2
Indices of production in construction 160 (at constant prices, non-adjusted data; 2015=100)
140.4 140 144.4 124.1 120.6 120 128.6
112.8 100.6 100 100 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 99.0 91.0 80 65.8 84.8 83.4 78.1 73.9 60
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 55 Majority of building permits issued for construction of new one-dwelling buildings In 2019, 3 401 building permit(1) were granted for construction, capital repairs, reconstruction and restoration of residential buildings with the total floor space of 844 thousand m2 (2 511 permits with the intended floor space of 597 thousand m2 for construction of new buildings). Out of the total number, 2 045 permits were granted for construction of one-dwelling buildings (with intended floor space of 411 thousand m2).
During the period, 1 583 building permits were granted for the construction, capital repairs, reconstruction and restoration of non-residential buildings with the total floor space of 1 770 thousand m2 (1 056 permits with the intended floor space of 886 thousand m2 for new non-residential buildings). In its turn, 316 building permits were granted for construction of industrial buildings and warehouses with the total intended floor space of 732 thousand m2 (207 permits for construction of new buildings with floor space of 360 thousand m2).
Building permits granted for construction of new buildings
2000 2005 2010 2015 2018 2019
One-dwelling houses 931 3 810 1 101 1 386 1 925 2 045 Two- and more dwelling houses 9 229 38 49 132 151 Hotels and similar buildings 24 136 27 52 10 72 Office buildings 28 38 19 11 24 16 Wholesale and retail trade buildings 210 122 35 36 43 41 Industrial buildings and warehouses 143 188 180 151 160 207
(1) Since the 4th quarter of 2014, the term granted permits in construction statistics characterises the number of records entered in the construction permit confirming that conditions for commencement of construction work have been met.
56 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Industry
Upturn in industrial production output Compared to 2018, industrial production output in 2019 increased by 0.8 %, according to calendar adjusted data at constant prices. Production output in manufacturing went up by 2.0 %, while in mining and quarrying as well as in electricity and gas supply it fell by 5.0 % and 4.4 %, respectively.
Volume indices of industrial production (at constant prices, non-adjusted data; 2015=100) 117.0 120 115.9 114.2
110 105.4
100 100 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
90.5 98.4 97.6 96.5 90 93.5 92.4 85.0 92.7
86.8 80
74.1 70
Compared to the year before, output rise in manufacture of electrical equipment (of 16.0 %), manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (13.5 %), repair and installation of machinery and equipment (9.3 %), as well as manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (8.8 %) had the most significant upward effect on manufacturing in 2019. The most notable output decline, in turn, was recorded in manufacture of wearing apparel (of 5.5%), manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (3.7 %), as well as manufacture of furniture (2.8 %).
Compared to 2018, in 2019 manufacturing turnover increased by 3.4 %, according to calendar adjusted data at current prices. The rise was due to the turnover upturn on the domestic market of 4.5 % and of 2.8 % in export (of which by 2.9 % in euro area and 2.7 % in non-euro area). In 2019, 64.9 % of the sold manufacturing production were exported (65.4 % in 2018).
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 57 Manufacturing turnover by direction of production sales (%)
0 25 50 75 100
2015 36.1 26.7 37.2
2016 35.4 27.6 37.0
2017 34.5 29.5 36.0
2018 34.6 29.9 35.5
2019 35.1 29.7 35.2
Products sold on the domestic market Products exported to euro area Products exported to non-euro area
Manufacturing output by economic activity; 2019
Other Manufacture of food manufacturing products and beverages 19.2% (NACE, 10–11) 21.9%
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, electrical equipment (NACE, 26–27) 8.9%
Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (NACE, 23) 5.8%
Manufacture of wood Manufacture of and products of wood chemicals, (NACE, 16) chemical products, 26.7% pharmaceutical products and Manufacture of basic preparations metals and fabricated (NACE, 20–22) metal products 8.3% (NACE, 24–25) 9.2%
58 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Retail Trade
Retail trade turnover grew by 2.3 % Compared to 2018, in 2019 retail trade turnover increased by 2.3%, retail sale of food products rose by 1.1 %, retail sale of non- food products, except of retail sale of automotive fuel, grew by 4.1 %, but retail sale of automotive fuel – by 0.4 %.
Changes in turnover of retail trade enterprises over the previous year
2005 2010 2015 2018 2019
Retail trade – total (47) (at constant prices, %) 18.0 -3.0 4.9 3.8 2.3 Retail sale of food products (4711; 472) 15.7 -5.3 2.7 4.4 1.1 Retail sale of non-food products (4719; 474–479) 23.7 1.4 5.3 3.7 4.1 Retail sale of automotive fuel (4730) 13.3 -6.5 9.2 2.8 0.4
Changes in turnover of retail trade enterprises over the previous year (at constant prices)
30
18.0 18.2 20 12.1 12.9 10.7 7.3 10 4.9 2.4 3.8 3.5 4.3 3.8 9.5 2.3 2.4 4.9 0 (%) 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
-3.0 -10 -7.3
-20
-25.6 -30
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 59 Tourism
Number of visitors in Latvian tourist accommodation establishments gone up 2.85 million visitors stayed at Latvian tourist accommodation establishments in 2019, which is 1.6 % more than in 2018. Compared to the previous year, the number of nights spent by visitors increased by 2.6 %, reaching 5.51 million. The average length of stay comprised 1.9 nights.
Visitors hosted at tourist accommodation establishments 3.0 2.8 2.9 2.6 2.5 2.3 2.1 2.1 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.9 1.9 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.8 1.1 1.6 1.4 1.5 (million) 1.0 1.2 1.1 1.1 0.9 0.9 0.5 0.8 0.8 0.8
0.0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Visitors of which foreign visitors
In 2019, 907.4 thousand Latvian residents were hosted at tourist accommodation establishments, which is 2.7 % more than in 2018, whereas the number of nights spent increased by 2.0 %, constituting 1.66 million. Latvian residents stayed mostly in Riga (25.1 % of visitors), Jūrmala (9.3 %), Liepāja (7.3 %), Daugavpils (4.6 %), Ventspils (3.3 %), Sigulda county (2.8 %).
In 2019, 1.95 million foreign visitors were hosted, which is 1.1 % more than in the previous year, whereas the number of nights spent by them increased by 2.9 %, reaching 3.85 million. Out of all foreign visitors, majority (75 %) stayed in Riga, 8.9 % – in Jūrmala, 2 % – in Liepāja, 1.9 % – in Sigulda county, 1.5% – in Daugavpils and 1.4 % – in Ventspils.
Characteristics of hotels in2019
One-star, No category Three-stars Four-stars Five-stars two-stars
Number of hotels, at the end of the year 110 5 55 50 14 Number of rooms, at the end of the year 2 558 95 2 724 5 091 974 Number of beds, at the end of the year 5 713 192 5 503 9 609 1 817 Persons hosted 359 546 4 672 514 480 1 184 100 171 641 foreign visitors hosted 203 037 2 518 348 239 1 001 029 147 043 Nights spent 586 452 8 668 901 502 2 059 939 312 681 nights spent by foreign visitors 356 003 3 839 642 658 1 781 997 275 497
60 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Agriculture
Agricultural output indices (at constant prices, 2015=100)
2016 2017 2018 2019
Agricultural output – total 94.2 95.4 84.2 104.2 Crop products 90.1 90.9 71.5 104.6 Livestock products 98.5 103.4 103.5 102.4
Slight increase in agricultural output In 2019, compared to 2018, total agricultural output at constant prices grew by 23.8 %. The upturn was mainly affected by the rise in the output of crop products (of 46.4 %) which was influenced by the increase in harvested production of grain (of 53.8 %). Output of livestock products fell by 1.1 %.
Agricultural output change 30 (as %, compared to the previous year) 23.8 25 20 15.9 15.7
15 10.1 8.7 10 5.5 4.2 4.0 2.7 3.7 2.5 3.2 5 2.3 1.3 0.8 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 -5 -2.8 -1.1 -2.8 -10 -5.8
-15 -11.8
Agricultural output per capita
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Grain (kg) 1 527 1 378 1 388 1 068 1 653 Potatoes (kg) 251 251 210 222 262 Vegetables (kg) 99 100 81 72 90 Fruit and berries (kg) 6 7 6 9 8 Meat, slaughter weight (kg) 43 44 47 47 49 Pork (kg) 18 19 20 20 21 Milk (kg) 495 503 515 510 513 Eggs (pcs.) 353 383 412 399 416
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 61 Sown area, harvested production and average yield of agricultural crops In 2019, harvested production of grain constituted 3.2 million tonnes, which is 1.1 million tonnes or 1.5 times more than a year ago and the highest harvested production recorded. The average cereal yield per one hectare reached 42.6 quintals (29.8 ql./ha in 2018) being the second highest yield registered in the history of Latvia. In 2019, 742.3 thousand ha of land were covered with cereals, which is 51.4 thousand ha or 7.5 % more than a year before. Harvested production of cereals was significantly influenced by notable increase in the sown areas of winter cereals – of 192.1 thousand hectares or 78.6 % (of which rise of 164.1 thousand hectares or 76.2 % in winter wheat areas). Share of winter cereals in the harvested production of grain grew from 48.7 % in 2018 to 70.0 % in 2019.
Key crop production indicators
Sown area, thousand ha Average yield, ql./ha Harvested production, thousand t
2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019
Cereals 690.9 742.3 29.8 42.6 2 057.3 3 163.2 Rape 123.6 140.1 18.6 29.0 229.6 405.6 Potatoes 22.3 22.4 191 224 426.9 501.8 Vegetables 8.2 172.9 155 192 139.1 172.9
Sown area, harvested production and average yield of cereals 5 000 50 42.6 37.8 44.9 38.3 40 4 000 29.8 28.0 26.5 3 163 23.7 3 021 30 3 000 2 703 2 693 17.9 16.9 20 13.1 22.0 2 057 2 000 (thousand (thousand t) 1 599 (thousand (thousand ha) 1 435 1 317 1 238 1 314 10 (quintals/ (quintals/ ha) 1 005 924 1 000 691 675 689 672 716 704 691 742 408 420 469 542 0
0 -10 1938 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Sown area (thousand ha) Harvested production (thousand t) Average yield (ql./ha)
Compared to the year before, in 2019 sown areas of rape increased by 16.5 thousand ha or 13.4 %. The average yield per one hectare increased from 18.6 quintals in 2018 to 29.0 quintals in 2019, and the total rape seed yield grew by 176.0 thousand tonnes or 76.7 %.
Compared to 2018, in 2019 potato plantation areas increased slightly – only by 0.1 thousand hectares or 0.7 %, while harvested production of potatoes rose by 17.6 %, reaching average yield per one hectare of 224 quintals (191 quintals in 2018).
62 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Last year, 172.9 thousand tonnes of vegetables were grown (including in greenhouses), and it is 33.8 thousand tonnes or 24.3 % more than in 2018. Upturn was affected by significant increase in the average yield of open field vegetables harvested per one hectare – from 155 quintals in 2018 to 192 quintals in 2019. The amount of vegetables produced in greenhouses constituted 11.2 thousand tonnes, which is a drop of 0.3 thousand tonnes.
In 2019, totally 2.4 million tonnes of grain were purchased, which is 699.2 thousand tonnes or 40.1 % more than a year ago, however average purchase price of grain fell by 7.3 % – from 168.34 EUR/t in 2018 to 155.97 EUR/t in 2019.
Wheat accounted for 81.4 % of the total volume of grain purchased (80.9 % in 2018); 85.5 % of the volume met food quality requirements (84.0 % in 2018). Share of food rye in the total volume of purchased rye grew from 70.0 % in 2018 to 82.9 % in 2019.
Number of livestock At the end of 2019, agricultural holdings were breeding 395.3 thousand cattle heads, which is the same number recorded in 2018. Number of dairy cows dropped by 6.1 thousand heads or 4.2 %, of sheep by 7.5 thousand or 7.0 %, of goats by 0.5 thousand or 4.5 %, and of horses by 0.1 thousand or 1.5 %, while number of pigs grew by 9.3 thousand or 3.1 % and number of poultry by 287.3 thousand or 5.3 %.
Number of livestock (thousands) 2 000 1 759 1 427 1 500 986 978 1 000 768 588 602 481 367 395 393 314 393 500 203 261 29 100 35 20 8 0 1920 1940 1980 2000 2019 1920 1940 1980 2000 2019 1920 1940 1980 2000 2019 1920 1940 1980 2000 2019
Cattle Pigs Sheep Horses
Output of livestock products In 2019, 94.0 thousand tonnes of meat were produced in Latvia, which is 2.7 thousand tonnes or 3.0 % more than in 2018. The largest increase was recorded in output of poultry and pork – of 6.3 % and 4.7 %, respectively. Production of beef and veal, in turn, fell by 7.3 %.
The average purchase price of meat went up from 1 458 EUR/t in 2018 to 1 577 EUR/t in 2019 or by 8.1 %. The sharpest increase was recorded in purchase price of pork (of 18.4 %, reaching 1 609 EUR/t), while decline was registered in purchase price of beef and veal (of 1.5 %, reaching 1 911 EUR/t) and mutton (of 4.2 %, reaching 3 299 EUR/t).
In 2019, 981.4 thousand tonnes of milk (incl. goat milk) were produced, which is 1.5 thousand tonnes or 0.2 % less than in 2018. The decline in the total volume of milk produced was influenced by the reduction in dairy cow number. Average milk yield per dairy cow rose by 277 kg or 4.2 % reaching 6 891 kg annually. The average purchase price of milk went up by 3.6 % – from 283 EUR/t in 2018 to 294 EUR/t in 2019.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 63 Foreign Trade in Goods
Turnover of foreign trade in goods In 2019, the foreign trade turnover of Latvia at current prices comprised EUR 28 543.5 million – EUR 22.8 million or 0.1 % less than in 2018. In 2019, exports volume increased, but imports volume – slightly decreased. The exports value constituted EUR 12 794.4 million (a growth of EUR 21 million or 0.2 %), whereas the imports value comprised EUR 15.749.1 million (a drop of EUR 43.7 million or 0.3 %).
Exports and imports by country group
Exports (million EUR) Imports (million EUR) Year total EU-28 CIS other total EU-28 CIS other
2012 9 871.1 6 863.5 1 521.8 1 485.8 12 512.3 9 680.5 1 878.8 953.0 2013 10 021.3 7 121.5 1 603.2 1 296.6 12 635.1 10 074.3 1 553.7 1 007.1 2014 10 386.3 7 586.6 1 522.5 1 277.2 12 909.0 10 288.5 1 567.1 1 053.4 2015 10 504.6 7 674.4 1 234.2 1 596.0 12 710.1 9 994.1 1 561.6 1 154.4 2016 10 490.0 7 747.4 1 183.3 1 559.3 12 416.6 9 889.5 1 318.9 1 208.2 2017 11 647.3 8 275.5 1 502.5 1 869.3 14 176.7 11 000.4 1 512.6 1 663.7 2018 12 773.4 9 089.5 1 614.1 2 069.8 15 792.9 11 674.4 1 828.2 2 290.3 2019 12 794.4 9 255.6 1 700.0 1 838.8 15 749.1 12 078.7 1 618.0 2 052.4
Balance of foreign trade in goods 20.0
15.0
) 10.0 EUR
5.0 billion (
0.0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 -1.1 -1.3 -1.5 -1.6 -1.7 -1.9 -2.4 -2.4 -2.2 -1.9 -5.0 -2.8 -2.6 -2.6 -2.5 -2.5 -3.0 -2.9 -4.4 -4.4 -5.3
Exports Imports Balance -10.0
64 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Changes in exports and imports of goods In 2019, exports of vegetable products grew by EUR 230.5 million or 32.5 %, exports of prepared foodstuffs – by EUR 111.6 million or 9.8 % and exports of products of the chemical and allied industries – by EUR 82.5 million or 8.9 %. The exports value of machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment reduced by EUR 243 million or 10.3 %, exports of mineral products fell by EUR 96.1 million or 13.0 %.
Imports of transport vehicles increased by EUR 140.1 million or 7.6 %, imports of products of the chemical and allied industries grew by EUR 126 million or 8.8 %, and imports of prepared foodstuffs – by EUR 88.9 million or 6.8 %. In turn, imports of machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment dropped by EUR 266.8 million or 7.8 %, imports of mineral products – EUR 260.3 million or 15.1 %, and imports of base metals and articles of base metals – EUR 95.9 million or 7.2 %.
Principal exports and imports In 2019, the largest share of Latvian exports was taken by wood and articles of wood – 17.2 % of total exports value, also machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment (16.5 %) and prepared foodstuffs (9.7 %). Base metals and articles of base metals comprised 8.6 % of total exports.
The biggest share of imports was also formed by machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment – 20.2 % of the total imports value, transport vehicles (12.6 %) and products of the chemical and allied industries (9.9 %).
Share of principal exports (%)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
1995 26.4 8.7 11.1
2000 37.4 5.5 3.5
2005 24.8 9.3 6.9
2010 19.0 13.0 7.5
2015 16.3 18.9 7.6
2019 17.2 16.5 9.7
Wood and articles of wood Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment Prepared foodstuffs
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 65 Principal goods in exports
2018 2019
million EUR % million EUR %
Total 12 773.4 100 12 794.4 100 Wood and articles of wood 2 274.4 17.8 2 203.6 17.2 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment 2 349.9 18.4 2 106.9 16.5 Prepared foodstuffs 1 134.9 8.9 1 246.6 9.7 Base metals and articles of base metals 1 151.3 9.0 1 095.7 8.6 Products of the chemical and allied industries 928.2 7.3 1 010.7 7.9 Vegetable products 708.8 5.5 939.3 7.3 Transport vehicles 835.2 6.5 769.9 6.0 Mineral products 742.0 5.8 645.9 5.0 Other goods 2 648.7 20.8 2 775.8 21.8
Exports of wood and articles of wood (million tonnes) 12.0 10.6 10.6 9.7 9.6 9.4 9.2 9.4 10.0 8.9 9.1 8.6 8.3 8.3 8.2 7.4 8.0 6.9 6.8 6.9 6.8
6.0 3.7 4.0 3.2
2.0
0.0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Principal goods in imports
2018 2019
million EUR % million EUR %
Total 15 792.9 100 15 749.1 100 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment 3 441.8 21.8 3 175.0 20.2 Transport vehicles 1 838.2 11.6 1 978.3 12.6 Products of the chemical and allied industries 1 436.1 9.1 1 562.1 9.9 Mineral products 1 721.6 10.9 1 461.3 9.3 Prepared foodstuffs 1 311.5 8.3 1 400.5 8.9 Base metals and articles of base metals 1 332.8 8.4 1 236.8 7.9 Plastics and articles thereof; rubber and articles thereof 827.7 5.2 844.8 5.4 Vegetable products 683.2 4.3 696.9 4.4 Other goods 3 200.0 20.4 3 393.4 21.4
66 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Main trade partners in exports and imports In 2019, exports to countries of the European Union accounted for EUR 9 255.6 million or 72.3 % of the total exports value (an increase of 1.8 %), whereas exports to CIS countries comprised EUR 1 700 million or 13.3 % (a rise of 5.3 %). Exports to other countries amounted to EUR 1 838.8 million or 14.4 % (a drop of 11.2 %). The main exports partners were Lithuania (17.2 % of total exports ), Estonia (11.7 %), Russia (9.2 %), Germany (7.2 %) and Sweden (6.6 %).
In 2019, imports from countries of the European Union in total imports of Latvia accounted for EUR 12 078.7 million or 76.7 % (an increase of 3.5 %), but imports from CIS countries comprised EUR 1 618 million or 10.3 % (a drop of 11.5 %). Imports from other countries comprised EUR 2 052.4 million or 13.0 % (a decrease of 10.4 %). The main imports partners were Lithuania (17.8 % of total imports), Germany (10.9 %), Poland (9.1 %), Estonia (8.5 %) and Russia (6.9 %).
Main partners in exports and imports of Latvia and principal goods in 2019
(million (million Exports Imports EUR) EUR)
Lithuania – total 2 203.6 Lithuania – total 2 804.8 Agricultural and food products 500.5 Agricultural and food products 691.1 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment 427.1 Mineral products 618.1 Mineral products 278.5 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical 379.7 equipment
Estonia – total 1 499.6 Germany – total 1 713.0 Agricultural and food products 293.2 Transport vehicles 471.2 Wood and articles of wood 267.6 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical 398.5 equipment Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment 225.2 Products of the chemical and allied industries 154.5
Russia – total 1 182.1 Poland – total 1 432.0 Agricultural and food products 447.1 Agricultural and food products 272.9 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment 286.0 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical 251.7 equipment Products of the chemical and allied industries 142.1 Products of the chemical and allied industries 170.6
Germany – total 921.0 Estonia – total 1 337.4 Agricultural and food products 178.1 Agricultural and food products 268.6 Wood and articles of wood 175.5 Transport vehicles 237.6 Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment 149.4 Mineral products 160.0
Sweden – total 842.4 Russia – total 1 080.7 Wood and articles of wood 254.7 Mineral products 358.6 Base metals and articles of base metals 106.1 Base metals and articles of base metals 249.6 Articles of stone, plaster, cement, glassware and ceramic 84.4 Products of the chemical and allied industries 133.2 products
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 67 Transport
Freight transport by road is decreasing In 2019, 73.8 million tonnes of the freight was carried by road, which is a drop of 3.8 % compared to 2018. National freights accounted for 55.8 million tonnes, which is 4.7 % less than in 2018. International freights accounted for 18.0 million tonnes – 1.0 % less, of which export freight transport rose by 0.7 %, but import freight transport and cross-trade and cabotage in international road freights fell by 1.5 %.
Freight traffic
80
70
) 60
50
40 million tonnes
( 30
20
10 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Rail transport Road transport
Freight transport by rail has dropped immensely In 2019, 41.5 million tons of freights were carried in transport by rail, a decrease of 15.8 % compared to 2018. National freights by rail rose to 1.7 million tonnes – 25.2 % more. In international traffic the volume of freights carried by rail reduced by 8.1 million tonnes or 16.9 %. Freight traffic by rail to/from ports of Latvia fell by 19.7 %, their share in international traffic comprised 79.5 %.
Volume of freights carried at ports has reduced In 2019, 62.4 million tons of cargoes were loaded and unloaded at ports, a decrease of 5.7 % compared to 2018. Freight turnover at Riga port was 32.8 million tonnes, 10.1 % less, 20.5 million tonnes or 0.6 % more – at Ventspils port, 7.3 million tonnes or 2.7 % less – at Liepāja port, but 1.8 million tonnes – at minor ports, which is 2.8 % less. 52.9 million tons of cargoes were loaded at ports, a decrease of 7.3 % compared to 2018. Volume of main freights shipped reduced. 31.9 % of cargoes loaded onto ships were comprised by coal. Its volume went down by 4.0 million tonnes (19.0 %). Oil products comprised 21.1 %
68 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB of freights shipped, which reduced by 0.8 million tonnes or 6.9 %. The volume of timber loaded decreased by 14.5 %, of freights in containers – by 2.8 %, of roll on/roll off – by 3.8 %, of mineral fertilisers – by 11.4 %, while shipping of grain and grain products rose by 14.4 %. The volume of cargoes unloaded at ports rose by 4.0 %. The volume of unloaded oil products grew by 19.4 %. Volume of loaded freights in containers and roll on/ roll off increased slightly – by 0.5 % and 0.6 %, respectively.
Cargoes loaded and unloaded at ports of Latvia (million tonnes) 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Cargo loaded Cargo unloaded
Passenger turnover at ports has increased slightly The number of passengers arrived at and departed from Latvian ports with ferries accounted for 1 071.7 thousand, which is 0.8 % more than in 2018. Passenger turnover at Riga Passenger Terminal comprised 799.4 thousand passengers, which is 0.4 % more, at Ventspils port – 232.3 thousand passengers or 4.9 % more, but at Liepāja port – 40.0 thousand passengers or 12.1 % less than in 2018. There were 69.2 thousand passengers who arrived at the Riga Passenger Terminal via cruise ships – 7.5 % less than in 2018. 1.2 thousand passengers arrived at Ventspils port via cruise ships.
In 2019, the number of passengers arrived at and departed from the Riga International Airport is close to 8 million In 2019, 7.8 million passengers arrived at and departed from the Riga International Airport, which is 10.5 % more than in 2018. The largest passenger turnover at the Riga International Airport was with German airports – 1.0 million passengers or increase of 5.9 %, Russian airports – 0.9 million passengers or rise of 18.4 % and British airports – 0.8 million passengers or drop of 0.3 %.
Riga International Airport received and shipped 27.2 thousand tonnes of cargo, which was 3.6 % more than in 2018.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 69 Passengers arriving at and departing from the Riga International Airport (milion passengers) 7.8 8.0 7.1
6.1 6.0 5.4 5.1 5.2 4.7 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.1 3.7 4.0 3.2 2.5 1.9 2.0 1.1 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.0 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Passengers arriving at and departing from the Riga International Airport by countries in 2019 3 000 100 82.8
75 2 500
50 36.5 34.3 (%) 2 000 25.5 23.2 18.4 16.0 18.1 17.2 25 9.4 9.1 8.9 10.9 9.1 12.4 5.9 3.0 6.2 2.7 1 500 0 -0.3 -3.9 -9.1 966 885 -25 1 000 828 ) 792 -50 432 500 407 313 307 295 290 276 275 235 -75 thousand 216 213 202 187 ( 151 151 137 130 110
0 -100 Italy other Spain Russia Poland France Turkey Austria Ireland Finland Estonia Norway Czechia Ukraine Sweden Belgium Denmark Germany Lithuania Switzerland Netherlands UnitedKingdom Number of passengers (thousand) Changes over 2018 (%)
70 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Passengers arriving at and departing from Riga International Airport in 2019
(Flows with at least 10 000 passengers. Records on passenger departures are maintained according to the first point of landing, whereas records on passenger arrivals – according to the last point of take-off.)
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 71 Number of registered passenger cars per 1.000 inhabitants by administrative territory at the end of 2018
Data source: Data of JSC "Road Traffic Safety Directorate".
Around 1925 there was one car in Latvia per 956 inhabitants, but at the end of 2019 – per 3 inhabitants. In 1925, there were 450 passenger cars in Latvia, compared to 3 824 passenger cars in 1940, 282 688 – in 1990, 556 771 – in 2000 and 727 164 – in 2019.
72 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Number of vehicles at the end of the year
1925 1930 1940 1990 2000 2010 2018 2019
Passenger cars 450 1 677 3 824 282 688 556 771 636 664 707 841 727 164 Buses 54 273 370 11 722 11 501 5 377 4 632 4 549 Lorries 184 1 025 3 071 59 965 97 081 71 575 89 211 91 311
Statistics on road traffic accidents is improving In 2019, 3 729 road traffic accidents with injured were registered in Latvia, which is 6.2 % less than in 2018. The number of persons killed in road traffic accidents has dropped by 10.8 % (132 – in 2019, 148 – in 2018), and the number of persons injured has reduced by 5 % (4 559 – in 2019, 4 798 – in 2018).
Persons killed or injured in road traffic accidents per 100 000 inhabitants 400 40
350 35
300 30 ) )
250 25
200 20 persons killed ( persons persons injured
( 150 15
100 10
50 5
0 0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Persons injured Persons killed
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 73 Environment
2019 is the warmest year since meteorological observations are made in Latvia With the mean air temperature reaching +8.2 °C, 2019 has become the warmest year in the history of meteorological observations of Latvia (made since 1924). Over the year, several records of maximum air temperature were beaten. Mean air temperature in the coldest month of the year – January – constituted +0.8 °C, while in the hottest month – June – it comprised +18.6 °C. The total precipitation recorded in 2019 was slightly under the normal.
Forest is one of the key natural resources of Latvia Forests occupy 48 % of the territory of Latvia. Every year forest area and resources thereof keep increasing. On 1 January 2019, forest land of Latvia constituted 3 285 thousand ha, of which 46.2 % are owned by the state and 53.8 % by private owners. Largest share (45 %) of the state forests is occupied by coniferous trees. Out of the area, 26.3 % are taken by pine and 18.7 % by spruce. The rest of the forest land is occupied by deciduous trees, which are dominated by birch (27.5 %), asp (8.2 %) and black alder (6.0 %). Small areas are taken by white alder and other deciduous trees.
Wild animals are an integral natural resource in Latvia as well. Roe deer are the most common wild animals in Latvia (184 thousand), whereas beavers are the most often hunted ones (29.5 thousand out of 59.0 thousand).
Households generated 49.4 % of all municipal waste
Municipal waste, tonnes
2008 2016 2017 2018
Generated (1) 1 368 790 1 980 276 2 141 215 1 587 737 Collected 1 716 386 1 560 623 1 909 641 2 346 438 Processed 598 052 1 137 928 1 197 147 1 164 884
Air pollution
Energy sector emitting 7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (64 % of total greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in Latvia) is the greatest generator of GHG in Latvia. Over the ten years from 2008 to 2017, volume of CO2 emissions in energy sector fell by 13.6 %.
(1) Estimate of the total amount of municipal waste generated calculated by subtracting types of waste not unambiguously classified as waste (manure, wood residues used as fuel, scrap metal) from the total amount of waste generated and collected.
74 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Greenhouse gas emissions per capita
(tonnes of CO2 equivalent)
12.0 10.8 10.9 10.8 10.8 10.6 10.4 9.6 9.8 9.5 9.3 9.1 10.0 8.7 8.8 8.7 8.8
8.0
6.0 6.1 5.7 6.0 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.9 6.0 4.0 5.5 5.6 5.4 4.5 4.8 4.8 2.0
0.0 2000 2001 2002 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
EU-28 Latvia
Environment quality and environmental protection In 2018, EUR 170.7 million were spent on research and management of environmental quality. The greatest share of funding (EUR 96.9 million) was provided for waste treatment and disposal facilities. The volume of household waste generated per capita in Latvia is comparatively low – the indicator comprised 407 kg in 2018. The lowest municipal waste output per capita in the EU was recorded in Romania (272 kg) and Poland (329 kg), while the highest in Denmark (766 kg), Malta (640 kg), and Germany (615 kg).
The second greatest share of environmental protection funding (EUR 51.0 million) was spent on protection of water resources. The largest underground freshwater reserves come from the basins of river Daugava (223.2 million m3) and Gauja (41.5 million m3).
Funding for air protection and improvement of air quality (constituting EUR 4.0 million) has been priority of the whole world for many years. Emissions of GHG is the most important indicator of climate changes. In 2017, 11.32 million tonnes of GHG were emitted in Latvia. Energy and transport sectors were among the greatest GHG sources in 2017, emitting 64 % of the total GHG volume. Since 1995, agricultural sector has been emitting approximately 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually.
Environmental protection expenditure by environmental domain
2008 2016 2017 2018
Total (million EUR) 142.1 151.3 152.3 170.7 Protection of water resources 66.7 44.5 47.5 51.0 Air protection 2.0 3.9 3.6 4.0 Waste treatment and disposal facilities 45.6 86.8 86.3 96.9 Other 27.7 16.1 14.8 18.8
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 75 Energy
Energy consumption increase in both production and consumption In 2018, final energy consumption constituted 201.5 petajoules (PJ), which is 5.5 % more than in 2017. Over the five years from 2014 to 2018, final energy consumption rose by 8.2 %.
Gross energy consumption
220
205 202 199 197 200 195 192 191 191 189 189 187 186 185 184 184 185
176 177 180 (PJ)
164
160
140 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Gross energy consumption by resource
2008 2010 2017 2018
Total (TJ) 196 517 194 840 191 042 201 503 Oil products 69 269 64 579 65 814 67 352 Solid fuels 4 473 4 564 1 729 2 029 Natural gas 55 814 61 313 41 670 49 024 Fuelwood 46 018 45 646 59 495 62 151 Electricity 20 477 15 991 16 079 12 470 Other fuels 466 2 747 6 255 8 477 Mean air temperature in autumn/ winter, 0C 3.6 -0.8 3.0 2.0
76 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Increase in share of renewable energy During the ten years from 2009 to 2018, share of natural gas consumption dropped by 2.9 percentage points, constituting 24.3 % in 2018, while share of renewable energy reached 35.1 %. At the same time, the proportion of fuelwood consumption went up by 2.9 percentage points, constituting 30.8 % in 2018. Compared to 2017, in 2018 the amount of wood chips and firewood produced rose by 10.8 % and 22.2 %, respectively, and that of pelleted wood by 18.4 %. In 2018, 30.9 PJ of wood briquettes were exported, which is 9.9 % more than in 2017. As the gross consumption of renewables is growing, Latvian energy dependence (1) reduced – from 60.4% in 2009 to 44.3% in 2018.
Share of renewable energy in final gross energy consumption 50
40 40.3 38.6 39.0 37.0 37.5 37.1 35.7 30 34.3 33.5 32.3 31.1 29.6 29.8 30.4
(%) 20
10
0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
In 2018, in transformation sector (2) 58.0 PJ of energy resources were consumed for production of heat and electricity and 45.0 PJ of energy were produced (of which 29.7 PJ of heat and 15.0 PJ of electricity), which is 9.6 % more than the volume produced in 2017. Production of heat and electricity in Latvia mainly is based on fossil fuel – natural gas, the share whereof in transformation sector has been decreasing gradually: 81 % in 2010, 52.7 % in 2017, and 57.8 % in 2018. Over the five years from 2014 to 2018, the share of renewables consumed in transformation sector has risen by 6.5 percentage points, reaching 41.6 % in 2018.
Compared to 2017, in 2018 gross consumption of renewables went up by 7.4 %, whereas volume of produced renewables grew by 19.9 %. Significant upturn was observed in production of fuelwood (of 20.0 % or 17.0 PJ), production of primary electricity fell by 43.6 % or 7.1 PJ – by 44.5 % in hydro power plants and by 18.7 % in wind power plants. In 2018, hydro power and wind power plants together produced 2 554 GWh of energy (2 432 GWh and 122 GWh, respectively).
(1) Energy dependence is calculated as follows: net imports divided by gross energy consumption plus bunkering. (2) Transformation sector includes volume of energy resources consumed for production and sale of electricity and heat.
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 77 Electricity production
1990 2000 2010 2017 2018
Total (GWh) 6 648 4 137 6 619 7 531 6 724 Hydropower plants 4 496 2 819 3 520 4 381 2 432 Combined heat and power plants (incl. electric power plants) 2 152 1 313 3 050 3 000 4 170 Wind power plants - 5 49 150 122
In 2018, lower than usual electricity output from hydro power plants caused by unusually dry and long summer with low water level and low water inflow in river Daugava had the greatest downward effect on the amount of electricity produced.
As the gross consumption of renewables is increasing, Latvia is getting closer to the strategic objective aimed at reaching 40 % of the energy produced from renewables in the gross final energy consumption until 2020. Latvia has the fourth highest share of renewables in the final energy consumption in the EU; in 2018, the indicator constituted 40.3 % (EU average 18.0 %). EU Member States shall ensure that until 2020 the share of renewables consumed in transport sector accounts for 10 %. In 2018, Latvian share of renewables in transport constituted 4.7 % and EU average 8.0 %.
Final energy consumption up by 4.4 % In 2018, final energy consumption constituted 179.1 PJ, which is 4.4 % more than in 2017. Over the past ten years, no notable changes were recorded in the final energy consumption. In 2018, transport sector consuming 30.3 % of the energy resources, households consuming 28.8 % and industry consuming 22.7 % were the largest energy consumers. Compared to 2016, rise in the final energy consumption was recorded in transport (of 4.3 %), industry (13.3 %), and households (2.8 %), whereas decline was registered in agriculture and forestry (of 3.3 %) as well as other consumers sector (2.7 %).
Over the five years from 2014 to 2018, energy consumption in transport has gone up by 17.1 %, reaching 54.2 PJ in 2018. This sector takes one third of the Latvian energy consumption and almost completely is based on oil imports, as the share of electricity and biofuel in transport is comparatively small. Diesel oil is the main energy resource used in the transport sector, and the share thereof constituted 64.0 % in 2018. During the recent years, significant increase in the share of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumed in transport may be observed. In 2010, the indicator constituted 1 PJ, whereas in 2018 – 2.3 PJ or 2.3 times more. Compared to 2017, consumption of LPG has dropped by 5.2 %. During the five years from 2014, consumption of gasoline in transport fell by 10.6 %, reaching 7.7 PJ in 2018, which is less than in 2017.
78 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Final energy consumption by sector
2008 2010 2015 2017 2018
Total (TJ) 178 845 175 617 163 498 171 642 179 117 Industry (incl. construction) 32 338 34 898 36 766 35 896 40 683 Transport 54 630 50 855 48 979 51 947 54 196 Households 60 772 58 160 46 296 50 119 51 547 Agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing 5 523 6 547 6 826 8 222 7 924 Other consumers 25 582 25 157 24 631 25 458 24 767
Energy consmption in transport by resource; 2018
Other Biofuel 2.7% LPG 2.9% 4.3%
Kerosene-type jet fuel 11.9%
Motor and aviation petrol 14.2% Diesel oil 64.0%
Over the past five years, energy consumption in industry has gone up by 11.7 %, reaching 40.7 PJ in 2018. Energy consumption in household sector constituted 51.5 PJ, which is 2.8 % more than in 2017. Structure of energy consumption in households has not changed significantly over the past years fuelwood still is the most common energy resource used. Compared to 2017, in household sector notable upturn was registered in natural gas consumption (7.0 %), whereas consumption of coal went down (32.7 %).
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 79 Science and Information Technologies
Research and Development
R&D funding in Latvia Research and experimental development (R&D) intensity is the ratio of the gross domestic expenditure on the R&D to the gross domestic product (GDP). Expenditure on R&D in Latvia has been low for a long time. One of the Europe 2020 strategy headline targets states that 3 % of the EU's GDP should be invested in R&D. Latvia has set a quantitative target of increasing R&D funding to 1.5 % of the GDP until 2020 and of 3 % until 2030.
R&D expenditure 300 0.80 0.70 0.70 0.69 0.66 0.62 0.62 0.63 0.70 250 0.60 0.56 0.59 0.60 0.60 0.51
) 200 0.47 0.46 0.44 0.50 0.41 0.42 0.42 0.38 186.2 150 162.8 0.40 152.2 (%) 141.6 141.4 145.4 139.5 137.9 0.30
million EUR 125.1
( 100 111.3 109.6 110.4 0.20 85.2 50 72.0 0.10 29.9 30.0 34.3 34.4 44.3 0 0.00 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
R&D expenditure R&D intensity
Compared to 2017, in 2018 R&D intensity increased by 0.12 percentage points and comprised 0.63 %. In 2018, Lithuanian R&D expenditure constituted 0.88 % and Estonian 1.40 %. In 2018, the EU average R&D intensity accounted for 2.12 % of the GDP.
R&D funding in 2018
Funding by source of funds (million EUR): Total Share in GDP
(thousand EUR) (%) business government higher education foreign sources enterprise sector sector sector of finance
Funding 186 260 0.63 41.6 63.9 3.4 77.3 higher education sector 97 537 0.33 4.1 45.2 3.4 44.8 government sector 42 448 0.14 4.5 17.0 - 20.9 business enterprise sector 46 275 0.16 33.0 1.7 - 11.6 R&D intensity, % of GDP 0.63 x 0.14 0.22 0.01 0.26
80 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB R&D personnel In 2018, 12 129 employees were engaged in R&D, of which researchers accounted for 7 439 (61.3 %). Two thirds (68.2 %) of the R&D personnel were employed in higher education sector. Number of young researchers is still relatively small; internal researchers aged 34 and younger constituted 26.2 % in 2018. However, share of R&D personnel at retirement age (aged over 65) is fairly large – 14.9 %. Women constitute more than a half of researchers – 50.7 %. In 2018, the greatest proportion of female researchers was recorded in higher education (52.4 %) and government (57.9 %) sector, while smallest in business enterprise sector – 37.9 %.
Graduates of doctoral studies by field of education; academic year 2018/2019
Services Education 3.0% 5.2% Science, mathematics Agriculture and computing 6.0% 26.9%
Health and welfare 6.0%
Humanities and arts 7.4%
Social sciences, business and law Engineering, 20.9% manufacturing and construction 24.6%
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 81 Information Technologies
Information and communication technologies are used by almost all Latvian enterprises In 2019, almost all Latvian enterprises used information and communication technologies (1). Every sixth Latvian enterprise has own website. During the last two years use of social media has increased by 10.9 percentage points. Every third enterprise in Latvia uses resource planning software. In 2018, 13.8 % of enterprises sold their goods or services on the Internet. Almost seven thousand enterprises are working in the ICT sector.
Share of enterprises using computer and internet (% of total enterprises with 10 or more persons employed) 105
99.8 99.2 98.2 98.7 98.8 100 97.4 98.1 95.1 95.4 95.4 93.5 98.7 99.6 99.0 95 96.8 96.9 96.0 94.2 90 86.8 92.2 90.7 90.6 85
80 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Computer Internet
Majority of enterprises have a website 64.2 % of enterprises had a website (homepage). Only 59.0 % of small enterprises had a website, while medium-sized and large enterprises had own website – 86.1 % and 94.1 %, respectively.
Increasing number of enterprises are engaged in e-commerce In 2018, 13.8 % of enterprises used opportunity to sell goods or services on websites, applications or other computer networks: 35.1 % – large, 16.8 % – medium-sized and 12.6 % – small enterprises sold goods and services on the Internet.
Tenth part of enterprises used website or application to sell goods or services on the Internet (10.9 %). But 4.2 % of enterprises used electronic data interchange (EDI) notifications. In 2018, large enterprises (21.1 %) sold goods using EDI notifications the most.
(1) Hereinafter the data published are related to enterprises with 10 or more persons employed; small enterprises with 10 to 49 persons employed, medium-sized – from 50 to 249, and large – with 250 and more persons employed.
82 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB Use of social media in business In 2019, 40.9 % of enterprises are using social media, but in 2017 – only 30.0 % of enterprises used social media. Mostly large enterprises use opportunities offered by social media (74.5 %), medium-sized enterprises (49.9 %), but the least – small enterprises (38.2 %).
85 % of households have access to Internet In 2019, 85 % households had access to the Internet, which, compared to 2018, is increase of 3 %. In 2019, 83 % of the households had a broadband Internet connection. During the last five years, this indicator has increased by 10 percentage points, but during the last year – by 4 %.
Mostly the Internet is available in households in urban areas (88 %), but in rural areas the Internet is available in 80 % of households. Compared to 2018, availability of the Internet in rural areas has risen by 2 %, but in urban areas – by 5 %. In households with children access to the Internet is higher (98 % – in 2019) than in households without children – 81 %.
Increase in the number of regular Internet users (use at least once a week) 84 % of population used internet regularly (at least once a week), compared to 2018, this indicator has risen by 3 %. Pupils and students use Internet the most – all persons of this group use Internet at least once a week. Also 47 % of the older generation (persons aged 65–74) use the Internet at least once a week and, compared to 2018, this indicator has risen by 7 %. Share of regular Internet users is larger among groups of population with the highest level of educational attainment. 96 % of population with the highest education used Internet at least once a week, but population with basic and general secondary education use Internet rarely – 68 % and 80 %, respectively.
Increasing number of Latvian population takes opportunity to use the Internet outside home and work. In 2019, 81 % of population used a mobile device to access the Internet outside home or work. Compared to 2018, this indicator has risen by 6 %. For this purpose 65 % of all population used mobile telephone or smart phone, 12 % – portable computer, but 8 % – used tablet PC.
Share of regular Internet users (at least once a week) in 2019 (as % of the total number of population) 100.0 100 100 94 96 93 75.0 86 84 80 80 74 68 50.0 61 53 25.0
0.0 Total 24 years 54 years 74 years General Employed – – – education secondary Rural Rural areas education Urbanareas Unemployed 16 25 55 Basicor lower Other inactive Students, pupils Highereducation
Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB 83 Most commonly Internet is used to access e-mail In 2019, residents of Latvia used the Internet mainly for sending and receiving e-mails and Internet banking (72 %). Females participate in social networking more often than males (68 % and 61 %, respectively), but males – listen to the music on the Internet more often than females (46 % and 42 %, respectively). Most popular activities among young people (16–24 years) are social networking, using instant messaging, i.e., exchanging messages and sending and receiving e-mails, but among seniors (65–74 years) – reading online news sites, newspapers, news magazines, Internet banking and sending and receiving e-mails.
Almost one fifth part of Internet users (21 %) have used learning materials available on the Internet, for example, presentations, videos or learning manuals, 10 % contacted lecturers or students using websites of educational institutions, but 5 % have used Internet to complete an online training course.
In 2019, 37 % of Internet users used option to store various data on the Internet in special data storage sites or clouds, as compared to 2018, this indicator has risen by 6 %. Students and pupils use this option the most (65 %).
43 % of all population use data storage on the Internet, flash memory, external hard disks and other data storage devices for back-up of various files – documents, pictures, music, videos, etc.
In 2019, cooperation between people and state or public institutions through the Internet continues to increase. 56 % of population fill in forms of state or public institutions online. Compared to 2018, this indicator has risen by 6 %.
Purchase of goods or services over the Internet In 2019, 47.0 % of population had purchased or ordered goods or services on the Internet. 48 % of females and 46 % of males made purchases on the Internet. Mostly clothes or sports goods (48 %), household goods (41 %), tickets for events (34 %) and electronic equipment (32 %) were purchased on the Internet.
Purchase of goods or services on the Internet in 2019 (% of total population) 80
72 60 66 62
48 40 47 46 45
20 25
10 0 Total Males Females 16–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65–74
In 2019, amount of purchases mostly was below EUR 50. Such amount was spent by 42 % of population, who made online purchases during the last year, while 2 % of population spent more than EUR 500.
84 Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2020 | CSB
CENTRAL STATISTICAL BUREAU OF LATVIA Lâèplçða iela 1, Riga LV-1301, Latvia www.csb.gov.lv