Lithuania: Migrants workers face widespread exploitation
Human rights organisations and trade unions in Lithuania expressed concern about widespread exploitation of foreign…
Read Less, Know More
Welcome to Via Baltica, your “information superhighway” for news from the three Baltic tigers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania! Our founder and editor-in-chief is Kerkko Paananen, senior news analyst with more than two decades of professional expertise in covering and reporting on current affairs in the Baltic States. We aim to do one thing well:…
Lithuania: Migrants workers face widespread exploitation
Human rights organisations and trade unions in Lithuania expressed concern about widespread exploitation of foreign workers in the country, BNS reported. Trade unions said that third-country nationals often had their passports or residence permits taken away at work, were assigned jobs different from those agreed, and were being subjected to excessive overtime and arbitrary fines….
Latvia: PM proposes referendum on Istanbul Convention
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs suggested holding a consultative popular referendum on Latvia’s possible withdrawal from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women, LETA reports. Kulbergs said that the ruling United List had discussed the idea of a legally non-binding referendum on the question with President Edgars Rinkevics. Kulbergs said that referendum…
Estonia: Registered unemployment rate drops to 5.5% in Q3/2026
Estonia had an average 38,000 people registered as unemployed in the third quarter of 2026, which was 5,600 (13%) fewer than in the same period of 2025, according to the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund (Töötukassa), ERR reported. The share of the country’s working-age labour force registered as unemployed stood at 5.5%, which was down from…
Baltic: Lithuania’s suicide rate highest in EU
The Baltic States have among the highest suicide rates in the EU, according to Eurostat, LSM reports. The data show that the number of suicides in Lithuania was 562 in 2023, which was up from 532 in 2022. Suicides totalled 270 (231) in Latvia and 199 (195) in Estonia. Lithuania’s standardised death rate for intentional…
Estonia: Estonia 200 not to merge with Greens
Estonia’s liberal coalition party, Estonia 200 (E200), will not merge with the small non-parliamentary party, Estonian Greens (EER), ERR reports. E200’s council met to discuss the issue on 18 October 2026. E200 chief spokesman Johannes Merilai said that a merger would add nothing to E200’s core identity. Also, he noted that EER’s policies differed from…
Latvia: 22% of population are seniors: statistics
Latvia had around 413,000 seniors aged 65 years and older in the beginning of 2026, which was 25,000 more than in 2016, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) data, LSM reported. Seniors now account for 22.4% of Latvia’s total population, which is up from 19.9% ten years ago. Latvia has the EU’s largest gender…
Lithuania: Russian arson attempt at Starlink storage
Russia was likely responsible for an arson incident at a storage facility for satellite communications equipment in Lithuania on 18 October 2026, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius announced, LRT reports. He said that incendiary liquids and containers were found at the facility, which stored satellite antennas and a control unit for Starlink equipment. Vilmantas Vitkauskas,…
Baltic: Estonians more active than Latvians, Lithuanians
Estonians are markedly more active physically than Latvians and Lithuanians, according to Eurostat statistics, LSM reports. The data showed that 73.2% of Estonians aged 16 years or older engaged in physical activity outside work at least once a week in 2025, which was down from 82.4% in 2022. By comparison, a mere 52.3% (47.7%) of…
Lithuania: Parliament backs removing nuke ban
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has approved in first reading a constitutional amendment that would abolish a ban on weapons of mass destruction, BNS reports. The amendment would allow deploying nuclear weapons on Lithuanian territory. Parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas argued that removing the ban would strengthen Lithuania’s resilience and deterrence. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said…