Long-term international migration

Immigration is the action by which a person establishes his or her usual residence in the country for a period of at least 12 months.

Emigration is the action by which a person ceases to have his or her usual residence in a country for a period of at least 12 months.

Population change caused by migration is measured by net migration, which is the difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.

As emigration from Latvia has decreased and immigration has increased, net migration has been improving in recent years. The proportion of foreign citizens among immigrants has also been rising.

A part of immigrants consists of remigrants – citizens of Latvia, non-citizens of Latvia, or people born in Latvia who have emigrated from the country and returned (immigrated) during the reference year.