The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved amendments reducing state support for Ukrainian refugees in Latvia, LSM reports. The government will allocate EUR 39.7mn of budget funds to support Ukrainians in the country in 2026, which will be down from EUR 65mn in 2025. The government will stop support to those Ukrainians who have found…
Estonia’s opposition party, national conservative Fatherland (Isamaa), remained the country’s most popular political party in November 2025, according to Norstat’s poll for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. The poll showed that 29.1% of eligible voters now support Fatherland, followed by the opposition left-of-centre Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) with 20.9%, the far-right Conservative People’s…
The average monthly gross wage in Lithuania amounted to EUR 2,427.6 in the third quarter of 2025, which was up 8.5% from the same period of 2024, the State Data Agency (VDA) reported. The average net wage stood at EUR 1,484.4, which was up 7.8% over a year. Compared to the second quarter of 2025,…
Latvians are not buying homes due to high prices, insufficient savings and income, and economic uncertainty, according to a Norstat survey carried out for Luminor Bank in September 2025, LSM reports. The survey showed that 27% of Latvian residents cited high real estate prices as the main obstacle to buying a home. Another 24% of…
Estonia’s harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) rose by 4.7% on year in November 2025, according to Statistics Estonia’s flash estimate, ERR reports. Compared to October 2025, the HICP fell by 0.5%, however. Lenno Uusküla, chief economist at Luminor Bank, expects the pace of inflation to continue slowing down in December 2025, as import prices…
Lithuania does not oppose the European Commission’s (EC) decision to withdraw a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s trade restrictions on Lithuanian goods, Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry announced, BNS reports. The EC argued that the main objectives of the dispute had been achieved and trade had resumed. However, the Foreign Ministry pointed out…
Gender equality in Latvia worsened sharply in 2025, according to the European Institute for Gender Equality’s (EIGE) Gender Equality Index, LETA reports. Latvia ranked 24th out of 27 EU member states on the index in 2025, which was down from 19th place in 2024. Latvia scored 56.7 points on gender equality, which was down from…
The city council of Estonia’s second-largest city, Tartu, has elected Tõnis Lukas of the national conservative Fatherland (Isamaa) party as its chairman, ERR reports. At the same time, the city council elected Raimond Tamm of the liberal Estonian Reform Party as deputy chairman. Reform’s Urmas Klaas will continue to serve as the city’s mayor. Fatherland…
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Denmark have signed a cooperation agreement to begin joint medicine purchases, ERR reports. The Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs said that the agreement would allow the countries to order larger quantities of medicines, helping obtain lower prices and more reliable terms of delivery. The ministry noted that new medicines usually arrive…
