Baltic: Residents rate health worse than EU average
People in the Baltic States rate their health much worse than the EU average, according…
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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:…
Baltic: Residents rate health worse than EU average
People in the Baltic States rate their health much worse than the EU average, according to Eurostat, LSM reported. The data showed that 57.8% of people aged 16 years or older in Estonia said that their health was good or very good in 2025, which was almost unchanged from 57.7% in 2024. The corresponding figure…
Lithuania: Ex-president Valdas Adamkus turns 100
Lithuania marked the 100th birthday of the country’s former president, Valdas Adamkus, on 3 November 2026, BNS reported. The celebrations in Vilnius and Kaunas included an international conference, a gala concert, and a musical tribute. Just ahead of his centenary, Adamkus was discharged from hospital, ELTA reported. President Gitanas Nauseda praised Adamkus for his service…
Latvia: New parliament elects new speaker
Latvia’s new parliament, the Saeima, held its inaugural session on 3 November 2026, swearing in all 100 MPs elected, LSM reported. MPs elected Edvards Smiltens of the United List as speaker of the parliament with 79 votes for and 15 against, LSM reported. He succeeded Daiga Mierina of the Union of Greens and Farmers, which…
Estonia: Fatherland-Centre coalition most popular: poll
Estonia’s most popular party combination for the country’s next government is a coalition of the opposition Fatherland and Estonian Centre Party, according to a new Norstat poll for the Institute of Societal Studies, ERR reports. The survey showed that 29% of respondents would prefer a coalition government of Fatherland and the Centre Party, followed by…
Baltic: Road traffic safer in Estonia than in Latvia, Lithuania
Road traffic safety is much better in Estonia than in Latvia and Lithuania, according to data from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, ERR reports. Estonia had altogether 43 road deaths in 2025, which was 38% fewer than in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of road fatalities rose by 5% to 118 in Latvia…
Lithuania: US push to ship Belarusian potash
US officials have pressured Lithuania to allow exports of EU-sanctioned Belarusian potash fertilisers via the port of Klaipeda, Politico reports. European officials said that the US special envoy to Belarus, John Coale, has been lobbying Lithuanian authorities on all levels about the issue for more than a year. US officials have also raised the possibility…
Latvia: Unregistered SIM cards to be banned
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has passed amendments banning unregistered SIM cards as of 1 September 2027, LSM reports. Under the amendments, users of pay-as-you-go SIM cards will also have to register their personal information with the mobile service provider. The Ministry of Interior noted that unregistered SIM cards are often used in telephone fraud,…
Estonia: Bank profits up 9% on year in M9/2026
Banks in Estonia generated an aggregate profit of EUR 539mn in the first nine months of 2026, which was up around EUR 42mn (9%) from the same period of 2025, according to data from the Bank of Estonia, ERR reports. Kristjan Mäe, economist at the Bank of Estonia, said that the increase in bank profits…
Lithuania: GDP up 2.3% in Q3/2026: statistics
Lithuania’s GDP totalled EUR 24.4bn at current prices in the third quarter of 2026, according to the State Data Agency’s (VDA) first estimate, BNS reports. Compared to the same period of 2025, the seasonally and working-day adjusted GDP rose by 2.3%. However, compared to the second quarter of 2026, the GDP contracted by 1.0%. Construction,…