LATGALE REGION - Population
Rapid ageing and few ethnic Latvians
Currently the population of Latgale region stands at 374 800, of which 53% are women. This is the country's second most populated region, after Riga, accounting for 16% of the total population of the country. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the population of the region has decreased by 47 500 or by 11.2%. Of the total population of the region, 150 400 or 40% live in two cities - Daugavpils and Rezekne.
Just as other regions of Latvia are having to cope with an ageing population, so too is Latgale. In fact, the percentage of the population over 65 years of age is the highest in the country (17% or 1,1% higher than in the country as a whole). 61.8% of the population of the region is of working age and only 15.8% are under working age (under 15). This disproportion has been widening over the last decade: the number of 65-year olds and older has increased by 5.9% whereas the number of young people (under 25 years) has decreased by 18.7%.
The birth rate in the region has almost halved since 1990. In 2002, 2 956 babies were born, which represents 7.9 births per 1000 population.
Latgale faces the unusual situation of its ethnic Latvian's being in the minority in the region. Evidence of this is results of the 2000 Population and housing Census. Also at the beginning of 2003, only 43.5% of the population of the region were ethnic Latvians, 40.2% were ethnic Russians, 7.2% - Poles and 5.8% - Belorussians. The percentage of Poles and Belorussians here is the highest in the country.
As in other parts of Latvia, the major immigration after World War II from other former USSR countries was replaced after Latvia regained independence by an excess of emigration over immigration. Between 1990 and 2002, net migration was almost minus 10 900 (5.7% of total net migration in Latvia, and the lowest percentage in the country).
The region's population is decreasing both due to natural movement and to migration. In the demographic account, natural movement in the population (excess of deaths over births) over the last 13 years has accounted for 77% of this decrease and migration 23%. This differs from Latvia's other regions where migratory flows had the greatest influence on the decreasing population.
As is the case in the country as a whole, infant mortality in Latgale is decreasing. The highest infant mortality rate in Latgale was recorded in 1995 when it was 22.1 (per 1000 new-borns) whereas in 2002 this rate was 9.8.
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