RIGA REGION - Population
More than one third of Latvia?s population
Currently the population in the region of Riga stands at 940 400 (40% of the total population of the country). Since the beginning of the 1990s, this number has decreased by 180 900, or 16%. One third of the country?s population live in the city of Riga.
Latvia in general and the region of Riga in particular are characterised by an ageing population. 22% of the region?s population are of retirement age, 64% are of working age and only 14% are under working age (less than 15 years old). The working age for men (as of 1 January 2003) is 15-61years, for women 15-58 years. The disproportion in age has been widening over the last decade since the number of 65 year olds and older has increased by 15% whereas the number of young people under 25 years decreased by 24%.
From a post-war peak in 1987, the birth rate is now 55% lower. Only 7 628 babies (8.1 per 1000 resident persons) were born in 2002. In recent years, infant mortality has been declining both in the country as a whole and in the region of Riga. The highest recent infant mortality was recorded in 1995 when the infant mortality rate was 19.8 (per 1000 new-borns) but in 2002 the same indicator was 8.4, or 58% lower than in 1995.
In the beginning of 2003, the percentage of ethnic Latvians calculated on the basis of results of the 2000 Population and Housing Census in the region was scarcely 46%. Russians made up 40%, followed by Belorussians (4%), Ukrainians (4%) and Poles (2%). Ethnic Latvians represented only 42% of the total population of Riga city. Because of emigration of a number of Latvia?s ethnic minorities, Poles, Jews, and Germans, they made up a declining proportion of the city population.
After the 2nd World War there was a large-scale immigration to Latvia from the former USSR republics, especially to Riga city and the region of Riga. After the re-establishment of independent statehood in Latvia, the migratory flows reversed dramatically with emigration exceeding immigration. Between 1990 and 2002, net migration was almost minus 113 thousand (59% of total net migration in Latvia).
The region?s population is decreasing due to a higher death rate than birth rate and to migratory factors. Between 1990 and 2002 the number of deaths has exceeded the number of births by 62%, with migration representing a 38% change. Calculations of the average life expectancy are made every year both for the country as a whole and separately for the urban and rural population. In 2002, life expectancy in the city of Riga was 67.4 years for men and 78.0 for women.
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