Population growth in 2022 due to immigration

The data compiled by the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia (CSB) show that at the beginning of 2023 Latvia had a population of 1 million 883 thousand people, which is 7.3 thousand people more than a year ago.

Over the year population increased by 0.39 %, of which a drop of 0.78 % was due to natural decrease and growth of 1.17 % due to migration. The positive difference between immigration and emigration was caused by 23.5 thousand Ukraine refugees¹ who are included in the population of the country providing asylum.

Birth number keeps reducing

Last year, 15 954 children were born in Latvia. The number is 1 466 children or 8.4 % fewer than in 2021 and thus is the lowest one recorded over the past hundred years. In its turn, 30 731 people died, which is 3 869 people or 11.2 % fewer than in 2021.

As the incidence of COVID-19 reduced, the death number fell slightly last year, however it still is higher than before the pandemic. Along with fewer deaths, natural decrease became less significant (it has risen from 17.2 thousand in 2021 to 14.8 thousand in 2022), however it remains close to that registered in 1996–1998. International long-term migration, in turn, has led to a population growth of 22 028 people, which has not been recorded since Latvia regained its independence.

Warfare in Ukraine keeps causing significant immigration

In 2021, compared to 2020, immigration increased by 43.5 %, whereas in 2022, as 38.7 thousand people arrived in Latvia, it was even three times higher than a year ago (12.7 thousand in 2021). The number of people leaving Latvia went up as well. In 2020 emigrant number reached almost 12 thousand, in 2021 almost 13 thousand, while in 2022 it accounted for 16.7 thousand thus being 28.6 % larger than a year ago.

Out of all immigrants, 24.9 thousand people or 64.2 % came from the EU candidate countries (24.6 thousand of them came from Ukraine). The number of immigrants from CIS² countries rose as well. They accounted for 4.1 thousand people (incl. 2.2 thousand from Russia) or 10.7 % of all immigrants, which is one thousand or 36.4 % more than in 2021. Immigrants from the United Kingdom accounted for 2.8 thousand or 7.2% of all immigrants (2.5 thousand in 2021).

Remigrants, i.e., citizens or non-citizens of Latvia as well as inhabitants having different citizenship but born in Latvia, accounted for 9.3 thousand or 24.0 % of the immigrants. In 2021 remigrant number constituted almost 7 thousand (54.8 %). People prior legally not related to Latvia formed the rest part of the immigrants.

Last year, 16.7 thousand people left the country. Out of the emigrant number, 11.6 thousand people went to the EU countries (39.6 % more than a year ago). Emigration to Germany increased by 16.3 % as it was destination for 2.9 thousand people (2.5 thousand in 2021). The United Kingdom, in turn, was destination for 2.6 thousand emigrants (almost the same number as that recorded in 2021). And 0.3 thousand people emigrated to the CIS countries, which is 15.3 % fewer than a year ago. Citizens of Latvia accounted for 71.1 % of the emigrant number (71.3 % in 2021).

Demography trends in Latvia, 2020–2022

Population ageing still observed, mean age 42.9 years

The slight birth rise recorded between 2013 and 2016 resulted in larger population of children and young people, however since 2017 birth number is reducing. Along with the overall population growth, the number of children aged 14 and under grew slightly last year – by 485, however, their share in the total population reached just 16.0 % already for the third year in a row. The population aged 15–63 also increased – by 2 596 people, while the proportion thereof (61.7 %) rose by 0.2 % during the year. The number of elderly people aged over 64 went up as well – by 4 170 people or 1.0 % and the share thereof (22.4 %) grew by 0.1 %. The mean age of population in Latvia is 42.9 years. In regional breakdown it varies between 40.7 years in Pierīga and 45.2 in Latgale.

Number of Ukrainians up, of other largest ethnicities down

In 2022 population decline was recorded among all largest ethnicities living in Latvia: the number of Belarussians fell by 2.4 %, of Poles by 2.3 %, of Russians by 1.9 %, while the number of Ukrainians rose by 35.3 %. Latvia is resided by 56.7 thousand Ukrainians, however ethnicity of 7 thousand refugees from Ukraine is unknown, thus the total number of Ukrainians in Latvia could be around 60 thousand. Out of the number, war refugees accounted for 23.5 thousand people or 1.2 % of the total population of Latvia.

The share of Latvians, just like the year before, dropped by 0.5 % and constituted 62.4 % at the beginning of 2023.

Out of the total population, 87.2 % of people were born in Latvia and 12.8 % abroad. Those born in the EU countries accounted for 1.2 %, in Russia for 5.4 %, in Ukraine for 2.8 %, in Belarus for 2.0 %, and in other counties for 1.4 %. Out of the children (people aged 17 and under), 94.8 % were born in Latvia, followed by 2.1 % (7 660) born in Ukraine, 1.2 % in United Kingdom, and 0.3 % in Ireland and Russia.

In terms of citizenship, 86.1 % of the population were formed by citizens of Latvia (86.9 % a year ago), 9.3 % by non-citizens of Latvia (9.7 %), 2.0 % by citizens of Russia (2.1 %), and 2.6 % by citizens of other countries (almost a half or 48.5 % of them were refugees from Ukraine). Out of all non-citizens of Latvia, 50.7 % lived in Riga, constituting 14.6 % of the total capital population. People aged 50 and over accounted for 75.5 % of all non-citizens of Latvia; the share of people having citizenship of other countries and belonging to this age group made 66.5 % and just 37.8 % of the citizens of Latvia were at this age.

Almost a half of men and 41 % of women are married

At the beginning of 2023, 49.1 % of men and 41.2 % of women of full age were married, 35.1 % and 24.6 %, respectively, were single, and 3.4 % and 15.8 % widowed. Out of all single adults, 69.5 % of men and 63.3 % of women belonged to the age group 39 years and under.

Population growth observed in seventeen municipalities

Last year, Latvia had urban population of 1 million 315 thousand people (i.e., 69.8 % of the total population lived in cities) and rural population of 568 thousand people (30.2 %).

More than a half (53.1 %) of the population of Latvia lived in Riga and Pierīga. However, inhabitants of the capital lately tend to move to Pierīga.

In 2022, population growth was recorded in Pierīga (of 1.8 % or almost 7 thousand people), Riga (0.6 % or 3.7 thousand), and very small in Zemgale (1.01 % or 30 people). Population decline, in turn, was observed in Kurzeme (of 0.4 % or 917 people), Vidzeme (0.2 % or 335), and the greatest in Latgale (of 0.9 % or 2.2 thousand).

Almost 610 thousand people lived in Riga, which is 32.4 % of the total population and 46.4 % of the urban population.

Last year, population growth was registered in five State cities: in Jūrmala of 1.2 % or 597 people, in Riga of 0.6 % or 3.7 thousand, in Jelgava of 0.3 % or 142, in Jākabpils of 0.1 % or 18, and in Ogre of 0.1 % or 12 people. In the other five State cities slight population decline was registered: in Valmiera of 0.8 % or 172 people, in Liepāja of 0.4 % or 272, in Rēzekne of 0.4 % or 103, in Daugavpils of 0.3 % or 270, and in Ventspils of 0.02 % or 7 people. Number of deaths exceeded number of births in all mentioned State cities. Positive net migration was recorded in all State cities, except for Valmiera.

In 2022, population growth was registered in 17 municipalities out of 36: all Pierīga municipalities, except for Limbaži, as well as Cēsis, Jelgava, Ludza, Varakļāni, Dienvidkurzeme, Valka and Smiltene municipalities. The greatest increase in population was registered in Mārupe municipality (of 4.8 % or 1 635 people). All mentioned municipalities had positive net migration, whereas positive natural increase was recorded only in Mārupe, Ropaži, Ķekava and Ādaži municipalities.

In terms of population size, Ogre with almost 58 thousand and Valmiera with 50.7 thousand inhabitants are the largest municipalities, while Valka with 7.6 thousand and Varakļāni with 3.0 thousand inhabitants are the smallest ones.

Population change by administrative territory, 2022

(per cent)

Largest share of children in Pierīga

The highest proportion of children and adolescents (people aged 0–14) was registered in Pierīga – 18.8 % of the total population in the region, moreover the number of children there went up by 1.4 % or one thousand. Growth in children population was also recorded in Vidzeme region – of 0.4 % or 111 children. The smallest share of children and adolescents was registered in Latgale – 13.6 %, as was the sharpest reduction – of 1.1 % or 374 children. The share of children in State cities varied between 18.2 % in Jelgava and 14.6 % in Daugavpils. With 26.6 % of children aged 14 and under in the total population, Mārupe was the youngest municipality, whereas Krāslava and Augšdaugava had the smallest proportions of children – only 11.0 % and 11.8 %, respectively.

The share of people aged 15–63 (incl.) varied between 60.7 % in Kurzeme and 62.0 % in Riga. Increase in the population of working age was observed in Pierīga and Riga (of 4.2 thousand and 3.0 thousand people, respectively); the sharpest decline thereof was recorded in Latgale (of 2.1 thousand). Among State cities, the share of working-age population varied between 62.0 % in Riga and 59.1 % in Valmiera. The smallest proportion of population of this age was observed in Valka municipality (57.5 %), whereas the largest in Rēzekne municipality (64.8 %).

People aged 64 and over make more than 22 % of the population in all regions, except for Pierīga (largest share in Latgale – 24.7 %, smallest in Pierīga – 19.4 %). Among State cities, the highest share of elderly population was recorded in Ventspils (25.4 %) and smallest in Jelgava (20.9 %). Krāslava and Valka municipalities have the greatest proportions of elderly – 27.3 % and 27.2 %, respectively, whereas Mārupe the smallest – 11.1 %.

Increase also in population of the neighbouring countries

Estonia and Lithuania both had sharp population growth last year.

At the beginning of 2023, Estonia had a population of 1 366 million. Country had a record small birth number as well as a record high migration – 49 414 people (incl. 33.2 thousand war refugees) arrived to Estonia and 9 657 people left the country, thus resulting in five times higher immigration than emigration.

Lithuania, in turn, had a population of 2 860 million (provisional), which is 54 thousand people more than a year ago. In 2022 population change in the country was influenced by significantly higher net international migration caused by the large number of refugees from Ukraine (the number of emigrants exceeded the number of immigrants by 72.4 thousand) as well as negative natural increase (the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 18.4 thousand) (in 2022 Lithuania had 22.1 thousand births, which is the smallest figure recorded there so far).

Data source:
Eurostat [demo_gind],
Statistics Estonia website,
Statistics Lithuania website

The annual population estimate was drawn up based on the data in the Register of Natural Persons of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs and other administrative data sources.

The information on administrative territories meets the provisions of the Law on Administrative Territories and Populated Areas in force as of 1 July 2021.

Methodological explanations

The Law on Administrative Territories and Populated Areas (adopted on 15 June 2020) defines new administrative territories, administrative centres, and units of territorial division thereof which entered into force on 1 July 2021. Statistics for the population of new territorial division is also published on the portal.

Natural increase – the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths in a given period of time.
Net migration – the difference between the total number of persons arriving in the country for permanent residence for at least one year and total number of persons departing from it for permanent residence or for at least one year.

¹ The number includes citizens of Ukraine the residence whereof was registered in Latvia at the beginning of the respective month, who have a residence permit for at least 11 months, and at least one of the criteria – person has been granted a temporary protection status or has a citizenship of Ukraine – is met. 

² Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

Media requests:
Communication Section
E-mail: media@csp.gov.lv
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More information on data:
Ance Ceriņa
Social Statistics Methodology Section
E-mail: Ance.Cerina@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366904