Latvia’s emigration crisis continues

RIGA - At least 500,000 people have left Latvia since re-independence, and the current situation can be compared to the post-war period, said University of Latvia professor and audit company BDO Invest Riga head Andris Denins in an interview with Delovije Vesti, a business supplement to the newspaper Vesti Segodnja. “When I hear official institutions mentioning 250,000 people, I feel like laughing. According to my estimates, at least 500,000 persons have gone abroad,” claims the businessman.

Denins believes that Latvia has still not overcome the crisis and this should be admitted, alongside with the current population situation, in the National Development Plan. “We will be able to claim being past the crisis only when our economy will reach the levels of 2007-2008,” explains the professor.
“However, the main indicators of overcoming the crisis would be the end of mass emigration, the creation of new jobs and unemployment reductions,” emphasized Denins.