Economics, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Internet, Latvia, Technology

The association's head informed that there are more than 6,990 companies operated in Latvia's ICT sector, employing 37,200 people. Last year, the ICT sector provided 8.2% of all taxes paid into the national budget. 

In 2019, the aggregate turnover of Latvia's ICT companies reached EUR 4.1 billion, while their profit exceeded EUR 426 million. 

At the same time, Balina indicated that Latvia still has a lot of work to do to improve its digital performance, which the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) has evaluated at 28.3%, well below the European Union's (EU) average of 41.4%. Ireland is at the top of the ranking with 74.3%. 

Meanwhile, the digitalization of Latvia's government services has been evaluated at 85.1 percent as compared to the EU's average of 72%. 

Latvians' digital skills have been evaluated at 35%, ranking Latvia in the 24th position among EU member states. The EU's average digital skills have been evaluated at 49.3%, with Finland leading with 78.4%.

"Clearly, we must think how to do something better. Our lifelong learning indicators are quite poor, so it is necessary to make sure people learn something new," said Balina.