Population of Latvia declined by 11 thousand in 2023

Central Statistical Bureau data show that at the beginning of 2024 Latvia had a population of 1 million 872 thousand, which is 11.1 thousand people fewer than a year ago.

Over the year population decreased by 0.6 %, of which a drop of 0.7 % was due to the negative natural population change and growth of 0.1 % due to the migration. The positive net migration (the difference between immigration and emigration) was caused by 8.2 thousand remigrants¹ and 4.4 thousand refugees² from Ukraine who are included in the population of the country providing asylum. At the beginning of 2024, 25.7 thousand refugees from Ukraine lived in Latvia. However, excluding the refugees from Ukraine, the number of people arriving in Latvia exceeded the number of those leaving the country for the first time since 1990.

Number of births keeps reducing

In 2023, 14 490 children were born in Latvia, which is 1 464 children or 9.2 % fewer than in 2022 and 2 930 children or 16.8 % fewer than in 2021. The figure is declining rapidly, moreover is the lowest one recorded over the past hundred years.

In its turn, 28 031 people died last year, which is 2 700 people or 8.8 % fewer than in 2022 and 19.0 % fewer than in 2021 when very high mortality was registered (34 600 people). Along with a lower mortality, the negative natural population change has improved slightly in the recent years (from 17.2 thousand in 2021 to 13.5 thousand in 2023).

Immigration has been exceeding emigration for two years in a row

Long-term international migration increased population of Latvia by 2 415 people (incl. 2 051 refugees from Ukraine). Compared to the peak number of immigrants (38.7 thousand) registered in 2022 when the positive net migration was mainly formed by 23.5 thousand refugees from Ukraine, the number of immigrants halved to 18.7 thousand in 2023 (incl. 4 353 refugees from Ukraine). The number of people leaving Latvia went down as well – 16.3 thousand emigrants were registered in 2023 (incl. 2 302 refugees from Ukraine), which is 2.3 % fewer than in 2022. 

Out of all immigrants, 3.9 thousand people or 21.0 % came from the EU countries, 5.1 thousand people or 27.4 % (incl. 4.7 thousand refugees from Ukraine) from the EU candidate countries (79.7 % fewer than in 2022), 3.7 thousand or 19.6 % (incl. 1.7 thousand or 9.1 % from Russia) from the CIS³ countries (11.6 % fewer than in 2022), 2.7 thousand or 14.6 % from the United Kingdom, and 3.3 thousand or 17.4 % from other countries.

Remigrants, i.e., citizens or non-citizens of Latvia as well as inhabitants having different citizenship but born in Latvia, totalled 8.2 thousand people or made up 43.7 % of all immigrants. Compared to the year before, the number of remigrants has reduced by 1.1 thousand while their share in the total immigration grown by 19.7 percentage points.

Out of all 16.3 thousand emigrants, 9.6 thousand or 59.0 % went to the EU countries (17.0 % fewer than a year ago). Decline may be observed in the emigration to Germany (2.3 thousand compared to 2.9 thousand in 2022) and the United Kingdom (2.2 thousand compared to 2.6 thousand in 2022). Emigration to CIS countries, in turn, went up slightly – by 34 people or 11.6 %.

Demography trends in Latvia; 2021–2023

Population ageing still observed

Along with the steady decline in the number of births, the number of children aged 14 and under fell by 7 661 over the year and their share in the total population made 15.6 %. The number of inhabitants aged 15–63 also decreased – by 8 004 people – and the proportion thereof in the total population constituted 61.6 %. The number of elderly people aged over 64 went up by 4 539 people and reached 22.8 % of the total population. The mean age of inhabitants in Latvia is 43.1 years, varying between the regions from 42.3 years in Riga and 45.5 in Latgale.

Number of Ukrainians up, of other largest ethnicities down

In 2023, population decline was recorded among all largest ethnicities living in Latvia: the number of Belarussians fell by 2.3 %, of Poles by 1.9 %, of Russians by 1.8 %, while the number of Ukrainians rose by 5.2 %. The number of Latvians dropped by 0.4 % while the share thereof in the total population at the beginning of the year went up to 62.6 % (62.4 % at the beginning of 2023).

Out of the total population, 87.3 % were born in Latvia and 12.7 % abroad. Those born in the EU countries accounted for 1.2 %, in Russia for 5.2 %, in Ukraine for 2.8 %, and in Belarus for 1.9 %. Out of the children (people aged 17 and under), 94.7 % were born in Latvia, followed by 2.0 % (7 278) born in Ukraine, 1.3 % in the United Kingdom, and 0.3 % in Ireland and Russia.

In terms of citizenship, 86.2 % of the population were formed by citizens of Latvia (86.1 % a year ago), 9.0 % by non-citizens of Latvia (9.3 %, respectively), 1.9 % by citizens of Russia (2.0 %), and 2.8 % by citizens of other countries (almost a half or 48.5 % of them were refugees from Ukraine). Out of all non-citizens of Latvia, 50.6 % lived in Riga, constituting 14.2 % of the total population of the capital. People aged 50 and over accounted for 76.6 % of all non-citizens of Latvia, people having citizenship of other countries and belonging to this age group made 46.8 % and citizens of Latvia just 38.2 %.

Almost a half of men are married

At the beginning of 2024, 49.0 % of men and 41.2 % of women of full age were married, 35.3 % and 24.8 %, respectively, were single, and 3.3 % and 15.7 % widowed. Out of all single adults, 68.7 % of men and 62.8 % of women were aged 39 or under.

Population growth observed in Jūrmala and eight municipalities

Last year, Latvia had urban population of 1 million 307 thousand people (i.e., 69.8 % of the total population lived in cities) and rural population of 565 thousand people (30.2 %). Almost a half (45.9 %) of all inhabitants lived in Riga region.

In 2023, population decline was registered in all regions of Latvia. The largest decrease – of 1.6 % or almost 4 thousand – was registered Latgale, followed by 0.9 % or 2.6 thousand in Vidzeme, 0.9 % or 2.4 thousand in Kurzeme, and 0.9 % or 2 thousand in Zemgale. The smallest decrease – of 107 people – was recorded in Riga region.

In addition, 605 thousand people (32.3 % of the total population and 46.3 % of the urban population) lived in Riga.

Jūrmala was the only State city where population increase (of 1.9 % or 996 people) was registered. The rest of the State cities witnessed population decline: Daugavpils of 1.3 % or 1 thousand people, Jēkabpils of 1.3 % or 286 people, Ventspils of 1.0 % or 314 people, Rēzekne of 0.9 % or 247 people, Valmiera of 0.9 % or 209 people, Riga of 0.7 % or 4.2 thousand people, Liepāja of 0.6 % or 408 people, Ogre of 0.5 % or 117 people, and Jelgava of 0.2 % or 135 people. The number of deaths exceeded the number of births in all State cities. Positive net migration was registered in five State cities – Jūrmala, Riga, Jelgava, Ogre, and Liepāja.

In 2023, population growth was recorded in seven municipalities in Riga region – Mārupe, Ropaži, Ādaži, Salaspils, Sigulda, Ķekava, Olaine – and one municipality in Vidzeme region – Saulkrasti. The highest population growth was registered in Mārupe municipality (of 2.7 % or 959 people). All mentioned municipalities had positive net migration, whereas positive natural population change was recorded only in Mārupe, Ķekava and Ādaži municipalities. Positive net migration was also registered in Talsi, Ogre and Valka municipalities.

In terms of population size, Ogre with 57.7 thousand and Valmiera with 50.3 thousand inhabitants are the largest municipalities. Tukums municipality with 43.6 thousand inhabitants as well as Cēsis and Bauska municipalities with 40.9 thousand inhabitants in each are the largest municipalities which do not include State city in their territory. Whereas Varakļāni with 2.9 thousand and Valka with 7.5 thousand inhabitants are the smallest municipalities.

Population change by administrative territory, 2023

(per cent)

Largest share of children in Riga region

The greatest proportion of children and adolescents (people aged 0–14) in the total population of the respective region was registered in Riga – 16.2 %, however the total number of children there went down by 2.4 % or 3.4 thousand in 2023. In Vidzeme and Kurzeme, children made 15.7 % of the total population. The smallest share of children and adolescents was registered in Latgale – 13.3 %, as was the sharpest reduction – of 3.7 % or 1 236 children. The share of children in State cities varied between 17.8 % in Jelgava and 14.2 % in Daugavpils. With 25.9 % 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 10.6 % and 11.4 %, respectively.

The share of people of working age (i.e., aged 15–63 (incl.)) varied between 60.7 % in Kurzeme and 62.2 % in Riga region. Increase in the population of working age was only registered in Riga region (of 1.1 thousand people) while Latgale witnessed the sharpest decrease (of 3.5 thousand). Among the State cities, the share of working-age population varied between 62.2 % in Riga and 59.4 % in Valmiera. The smallest proportion of population at this age was recorded in Valka municipality (57.0 %), whereas the largest in Rēzekne municipality (64.3 %).

People aged 64 and over make more than 22 % of the population in all regions, except for Riga (largest share in Latgale – 25.4 %, smallest in Riga – 21.6 %). Among the State cities, the largest share of elderly population was recorded in Daugavpils and Ventspils (25.8 % in each) and the smallest in Jelgava (21.3 %). Krāslava and Valka municipalities have the greatest proportions of elderly – 28.3 % and 28.0 %, respectively, whereas Mārupe the smallest – 11.3 %.

Imigration exceeds emigration also in our neighbouring countries

Due to the war refugees from Ukraine and people from other countries coming to Estonia and Lithuania, they both still had population growth last year. At the beginning of 2024, Estonia had a population of 1.375 million; 26 399 people arrived at and 12 543 people left the country. In 2023 it had the smallest number of births as well – just over 11 thousand.

Lithuania, in turn, had a population of 2.886 million at the beginning of 2024, which is 29 thousand people more than a year ago. The number of immigrants exceeded the number of emigrants by 44.9 thousand. In 2023, 20.6 thousand births were registered in Lithuania, which is 1.4 thousand or 6.5 % fewer than in 2022.

Source: Statstics Estonia website and 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. As of 1 January 2024, there are five statistical regions in Latvia – Riga, Zemgale, Vidzeme, Latgale and Kurzeme – and the territories thereof coincide with the territories of the planning regions.

Methodological information

¹ Remigrant is a citizen or non-citizen of Latvia, or a person born in Latvia who has emigrated from the country and returned (immigrated) to it during the reference year.

² 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 who have been granted a temporary protection status. 

³ Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

Natural population change (natural increase) is the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths in a given period of time.

Net migration is 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.

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