Latvia has a population of almost 1.86 million

According to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB), population of Latvia stood at 1 million 857 thousand at the beginning of 2025. The working-age population accounted for 63 %, and children aged 14 and under for 15.1 %. The greatest proportion of children and adolescents was registered in Riga region ­– 15.7 %. Migration data show that the population of Pieriga keeps growing, and that remigrants made up 72.9 % of all migrants. The proportion of Latvians is also increasing, as is the number of citizens of Latvia. 

‘As of this year, CSB is producing population estimates using a new method that is currently unique among European countries. Based on administrative data and a ‘signs of life’ approach, the method enables more accurate determination of population status without the need for costly and time-consuming traditional census methods. In addition, it significantly reduces administrative burden and allows to produce detailed population statistics on an annual basis, rather than just once every ten years.

The data are drawn from a continuously available and regularly updated source ­– Register of Natural Persons – combined with a range of administrative sources that reflect different aspects of resident lives, including healthcare, education, social assistance, and others. Compared to previous methods, such as projections and censuses, this approach enables continuous production of detailed population statistics and provides more precise and up-to-date data,’ explains Raimonds Lapiņš, Director General of the CSB. 

In 2024, 63.0 % of the total population were of working age (15–64 years), and the share has reduced by 0.1 % compared to 2023. Elderly population (65 and over) increased by 0.5 % and made up 21.9 % of all inhabitants, while the number of children (14 and under) decreased by 0.3 %, totalling 15.1%.

The mean age of the population in Latvia is 43.5 years, ranging from 42.7 years in the Riga region to 45.9 years in Latgale.

Compared to 2024, population of Latvia has declined by 1.0 %, or by 18.4 thousand people. As a result of negative natural change, with deaths outnumbering births, the total population declined by 0.7 %, or 13.8 thousand people. In addition, negative net migration — with more people leaving the country than entering — led to a decrease of 0.3 %, or 4.6 thousand people.

Last year, 13.7 thousand people arrived and 18.3 thousand left

In 2024, 13.7 thousand people arrived in Latvia – 694 (4.8 %) fewer than in 2023. Out of all immigrants, 3.9 thousand people (28.3 %) came from the EU countries, 2.9 thousand (20.9 %) from the EU candidate countries, including 2.7 thousand from Ukraine, 2.8 thousand (20.7 %) from the United Kingdom, and almost 3 thousand (21.6 %) from the CIS¹ countries (down by 17.5 % compared to 2023), including 2.1 thousand from Russia (15.5 % of all immigrants).

Additionally, 18.3 thousand people left Latvia – 670 (3.8 %) more than in 2023. War refugees² from Ukraine accounted for 5 056 (27.6 %) of this number. Out of all emigrants, 8.6 thousand (47.1 %) went to EU countries (16.3 % more than in 2023) and 5.2 thousand (28.2 %) went to EU candidate countries (11.7 % fewer than in 2023). Emigration to CIS countries increased by 126 people (33.9 %) and totalled 498 people. Among separate countries, Germany takes the leading position with 2.2 thousand emigrants (1.6 thousand in 2023).

At the beginning of this year, almost 17 thousand Ukrainian war refugees lived in Latvia (25.7 thousand at the beginning of 2024). 

Remigrants, i.e., citizens or non-citizens of Latvia as well as inhabitants having different citizenship but born in Latvia, accounted for almost 10 thousand people or made up 72.9 % % of all immigrants. Compared to 2023, the number of remigrants has reduced by almost one thousand while their share in the total immigration by 3.3 percentage points.

Riga region has the highest proportion of children

In 2024, 12 887 children were born in Latvia, a decrease of 1 603 children, or 11.1 %, compared to 2023.

Director of the Social Statistics Department explains that: ‘Currently, values and life priorities are transforming, and starting a family no longer ranks as the top priority for many. It is increasingly common for prospective parents to prioritise higher education, career development, stable income, and secure housing before considering parenthood. This pattern is not unique to Latvia but reflects broader demographic trends observed across the European Union. According to CSB data for 2024, the mean age of mothers at birth of first child was 28.1 years and the overall mean age of mothers at childbirth was 30.4 years. These figures are in line with trends in other EU countries, indicating a continued postponement of childbearing.’

The greatest proportion of children and adolescents (0–14 years) in the total population of the respective region was registered in Riga region ­– 15.7 %.  In other regions, it ranged from 15.4 % in Zemgale to 12.7 % in Latgale. The share of children in State cities varied between 17.1 % in Jelgava and 13.6 % in Daugavpils. With one in four inhabitants being a child aged 14 and under (25.2 % of the total population in municipality), Mārupe was the youngest municipality, whereas Krāslava and Augšdaugava had the smallest proportions of children – only 9.8 % and 10.9 % respectively.

The share of people of working age (15–64 years (incl.)) varied between 63.3 % in Riga region and 62.4 % in Kurzeme. Among the State cities, the share of working-age population ranged from 63.2 % in Riga to 61.1 % in Ogre and Ventspils. The smallest proportion of population at this age was recorded in Valka municipality (58.7 %), whereas the largest in Rēzekne municipality (65.7 %).

With one in four residents (24.4 %) aged 65 or older, Latgale region has the greatest share of elderly population, whereas Riga region the smallest – 20.9 %. Among the State cities, the largest share of elderly population was recorded in Ventspils (24.9 %) and Daugavpils (24.8 %), while the smallest in Jelgava (20.4 %). Krāslava and Valka municipalities have the greatest proportions of elderly – 27.3 % and 26.8 % respectively, whereas Mārupe the smallest – 10.8 %.

Demography trends in Latvia, 2022–2024

With 26 661 deaths registered in 2024, mortality has reduced. Compared to 2023 the figure has gone down by 1 370 deaths (4.9 %) and compared to the high mortality in 2021 (34 600) – by 22.9 %.

Share of Latvians has increased

At the beginning of 2025, the share Latvians in the total population went up by 0.4 percentage points and reached 63.7 % (63.3 % at the beginning of 2024). However, population decline was recorded among several largest ethnicities living in Latvia: the number of Russians fell by 0.2 % and of Ukrainians by 0.1 %.

Out of the total population, 88.6 % were born in Latvia and 11.4 % abroad. Those born in the EU countries accounted for 1.1 %, in Russia for 5.0 %, in Ukraine for 2.3 %, and in Belarus for 1.8 %. Out of the children (17 years and under), 95.2 % were born in Latvia, followed by 1.4 % born in the United Kingdom and Ukraine as well as 0.3 % in Ireland and Russia.

In terms of citizenship, 87.8 % of the population were formed by citizens of Latvia (0.5 percentage points more than a year ago), 8.9 % by non-citizens of Latvia (0.3 percentage points fewer), and 3.2 % by citizens of other countries (of which, 28.2 % were refugees from Ukraine). 

Population growth observed in Mārupe, Ādaži, Ropaži, Salaspils and Saulkrasti municipalities as well as Jūrmala State city

Last year, Latvia had urban population of 1 million 294 thousand people (i.e., 69.7 % of the total population lived in cities) and rural population of 563 thousand people (30.3 %). Almost half (45.6 %) of all inhabitants lived in Riga region, and 592 thousand – 31.9 % of the total population and 45.7 % of the urban population – lived in the capital, Riga.

In terms of regions, 239 166 inhabitants lived in Latgale (1.7 %, or 4.2 thousand, fewer than a year ago), 274 754 in Kurzeme and 221 893 in Zemgale (1.2 %, or 3.4 thousand and 2.6 thousand, fewer), 273 957 in Vidzeme (1.1 %, or almost 3 thousand fewer), and 847 162 in Riga region (0.6 %, or 5.2 thousand, fewer).

In terms of population size, Ogre with 57.6 thousand and Valmiera with 50.6 thousand inhabitants are the largest municipalities. Tukums municipality with 43.4 thousand inhabitants, Cēsis municipality with 41.3 thousand, and Bauska municipality with 40.5 thousand are the largest municipalities which do not include State city in their territory. Whereas Varakļāni with 2.8 thousand and Valka with 7.6 thousand inhabitants are the smallest municipalities.

In 2024, population growth was recorded in four municipalities in Riga region – Mārupe, Ādaži, Ropaži, and Salaspils – and one municipality in Vidzeme region – Saulkrasti. The highest population growth was registered in Mārupe municipality (of 1.5 %, or 563 people). All mentioned municipalities, as well as Valka, Olaine and Dienvidkurzeme municipalities had positive net migration, whereas positive natural population change was recorded in Mārupe, Ropaži, Ķekava and Ādaži municipalities. Jūrmala was the only State city where population increase (of 1.3 %, or 680 people) was registered. The rest of the State cities witnessed population decline: Ventspils of 1.6 % (524 people), Jēkabpils of 1.3 % (277 people), Riga of 1.2 % (6.9 thousand people), Daugavpils of 1.0 % (819  people), Rēzekne of 1.0 % (274 people), Liepāja of 1.0 % (683 people), Ogre of 0.9 % (214 people), Valmiera of 0.8 % (175 people), and Jelgava of 0.7 % (387 people). The number of deaths exceeded the number of births in all State cities. Positive net migration was registered in two State cities – Jūrmala and Rēzekne.

Population change by administrative territory, 2024

(per cent)

Refer to the OSP database: IRS031 and map viewer

The number of births has reduced in all three Baltic states. With a total of 19.1 thousand newborns registered in 2024, the number of births in Lithuania went down by 1.5 thousand (7.5 %) compared to 2023, and in Estonia with 9.7 thousand newborns by 1.3 thousand (11.5 %).

At the beginning of 2025, Lithuania had a population of 2.891 million, which is 4.8 thousand people (0.2 %) more than a year ago. It still has negative natural population change, whereas the number of immigrants exceeded the number of emigrants by 23.1 thousand. Population of Estonia declined by 4.7 thousand (0.3 %) and stood at 1.370 million.

Source: Statistics Estonia website and Statistics Lithuania website

Methodological information

Since 2025, CSB has been estimating usually resident population of Latvia using a new method, based on the SoL-logit model. This model is an unsupervised machine learning approach comprising two components: a logit component, which estimates the probability that a person is a usual resident of Latvia, and a SoL (signs of life) component, which measures activity of an individual in selected administrative registers.

From 2012 to 2024, population estimate was based on a logistic regression model, the accuracy of which declined over time, as the Population and Housing Census 2011 data were used as training data. Latvia is one of the first European Union countries to produce population estimates from administrative data using a relatively complex method that integrates signs of life with logistic regression. The new method improves the accuracy of population and migration estimates, supports the production of detailed annual data from administrative sources, and reduces response burden and costs. To ensure comparability, the data for 2023 and 2024 have also been recalculated using the new method.

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

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.

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

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. 

Media requests:
Public Relations Section
E-mail: media@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 27880666

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