Latvian population shrinking faster than ever

  • 2011-08-05
  • TBT Staff

RIGA -- Latvia;'s official statistics agency has found that the country's population has been decreasing at a faster rate over the past few years.

A of the beginning of July, the Latvian population shrank by more than half a percent from the start of the year. The statistics agency said this was due to long term emigration and, to a lesser extent, deaths exceeding births.

This is the first time in recent history that emigration has played a larger factor in population decline than the low birth rate.