Analytics, Demography, Latvia, Society

In 2011, 18,825 babies were born, in 2012 – 19,897, but in 2013 – 20,596.

As Mezs points out, the birthrate is largely dependent on the political and economic situation in the country.

Meanwhile, 28,466 Latvian residents died last year, while about 28,900 are expected to die this year.

Mezs said that since there are so little children being born in Latvia, he fears that in about ten years Latvia's economy will need more persons to fill the void. ''The question is – where will these persons come from?,'' he said.

As reported, the Central Statistical Bureau will be carrying out a population microcensus from September 2nd to December 15 in Riga and elsewhere, the aim of which is to determine how precisely the official statistics reflect the population of Latvia, cities, and regions.

The microcensus would concern 15,000 pre-selected apartments and homes in 41 regions and nine cities of Latvia, including 4,380 in Riga.

The microcensus will proceed in two stages. During the stage one, residents will be able to fill out their census questionnaires at the eintervija.csb.gov.lv website until September 15. Those who do not do it will be interviewed either on the telephone or visited by census takers by December 15.