Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Health, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Society

Back in 2002, as many as 18.3% of boys and 13.2% of girls in Latvia drank sugared soft drinks at least once every day, as opposed to 7.8% of boys and 5.1% of girls in 2014.

Sweets consumption among school-age children in Latvia has also decreased - 22.1% of boys and 33.4% of girls ate sweets at least once every day in 2014. Sweets consumption had been growing in Latvia until 2006 when 45.4% of girls and 33.8% of boys ate sweets daily but has been receding since then.

The percentage of youngsters consuming fruit and vegetables regularly is still comparatively low. The latest WHO poll showed that daily fruit intake was reported by 27% of girls and 18.8% of boys in Latvia in 2014. The situation has improved slightly from 25.3% of girls and 15.9% of boys in 2010.

There has been some improvement also in daily vegetable consumption to 30% of girls and 20.3% of boys as opposed to 26.4% of girls and 16.4% of boys in 2010.

The WHO published its Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study this week. The study is based on the data obtained through surveys among school children in 42 world countries in the 2013/2014 school year. Altogether over 200,000 school children were interviewed, including about 5,500 in Latvia.