Analytics, Demography, Latvia, Society

To provide the information on demographic situation in the country in 2011 the CSB has compiled the data of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs for the analysis of the migration and the civil status register information on births, deaths and marriages received from the registry authorities. The data on 10 months of this year and their estimates on November and December show that the number of Latvia population during the year will diminish by 23 thousand persons. For comparison: in 2010 the number of population reduced by 18.7 thousand.

The number of population due to natural movement (the number of deaths exceeding births) will decrease by almost 10 thousand, and due to the international long-term migration – by 13 thousand persons. The population reduction rate during the last years is growing more and more.

The population change since 2000 is shown in a chart below in breakdown by factors influencing it.

Change in the number of Latvia population and factors influencing it in 2000 – 2011

During the last three years the birth rates in Latvia are decreasing. The number of births within 10 months comprises 15.7 thousand – 500 births or 2.9% less than in ten months of 2010 (to compare – in ten months of 2010 the number of births constituted 12.7% less then in ten months of 2009). The provisional data show that in 2011 the number of births will reach 18.7 thousand, and it is 2.6% less than in 2010.

Mortality in this year has decreased, according to the statistical data: In ten months of this year the number of deaths comprised 23.8 thousand persons, if compared to 25 thousand in ten months of 2010. Number of deaths in 2011 will constitute about 28.6 thousand or 1.5 thousand persons (5%) less than in 2010.

A positive trend observed is the increase in the number of marriages: In ten months of this year the number of marriages (9.4 thousand) slightly exceeds the number of marriages concluded during the whole 2010, and within the year this number may reach 10.5 thousand. The growth of the marriage number may positively influence the birth rates.

The number of population has diminished also due to the international migration. Analysis of the data received from the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs shows that the volume of emigration this year is growing significantly. In ten months of 2011 14.9 thousand persons have declared their emigration in the civil register, and the number already exceeds the number of persons emigrated in 2010 (10.7 thousand) by 39.3%.