Analytics, Demography, Latvia, Society

"The statistics show that the Riga center, which is the Old Town of Riga and the vicinity, has seen a significant drop in the number of residents," said Zigure.

At the same time, there is still a trend in Latvia for residents of the regions to move closer to Riga. "The flow continues, the number of population in regions is declining, even though there is a declining trend throughout the country," she said.

Zigure also said that even though the overall economic situation in Latvia is improving, emigration is still high, the country is losing about one medium-size city a year, and most of the emigrants are of the working age or 20-40 years old.

According to the statistical data, the Riga center and the center neighborhood saw a drop in the number of residents from 50,929 people in 2000 to 30,171 people early this year. The number of residents in Riga this year has reached 641,500 compared to 761,500 in 2000.