The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended that the Estonian government stabilise public debt by limiting budget spending and increasing revenue, ERR reports. IMF experts warned that if current policies continued, public debt would become unsustainable. GDP growth alone will not solve the country’s long-term challenges, they pointed out. Achieving more sustainable growth would require increasing…
Latvia’s population totalled 1.845 million people in the beginning of 2026, which was down 15,500 (0.83%) from a year earlier, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reported. The population declined in all regions. Altogether 69.8% of people lived in cities and 30.2% in rural areas, with 46.0% living in Riga region….
Latvia’s population has dropped at the highest rate in the entire EU over the last 20 years, according to Eurostat, LSM reported. Latvia’s population declined by 17% in 2005-2025. Meanwhile, Lithuania’s population decreased by 14%, whereas Estonia’s population only declined by 1% over the same period. The population totalled 2.89 million people in Lithuania, 1.86…
Lithuanian parties are discussing the possibility of signing a long-term national accord on demographic policy, following a proposal from Mindaugas Sinkevicius, chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP), LRT reported. Laurynas Kasciunas, chairman of the opposition Homeland Union, welcomed the proposal, while Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, leader of the opposition Lithuanian Liberal Movement (LLS),…
Around 63,000 children will start kindergarten in Estonia in 2026, which is down from just under 67,000 in 2025, according to the Ministry of Education, ERR reports. The number of children in kindergarten has gone down across the country due to falling birth rates, which has made it easier for parents to place their children…
The share of people living in households with dependent children who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) in the Baltic States was highest in Lithuania in 2025, Eurostat reported. The AROPE rate for people living in households with dependent children stood at 18.3% in Lithuania in 2025, which was down from 20.9%…
Latvia has over 223,000 pupils studying in schools of general education in the academic year 2025/2026, TV3 reports. However, due to the country’s demographic decline, the number of schoolchildren may drop to fewer than 200,000 by 2030. By 2040, the number may fall to a little over 120,000, which would be more than 40% fewer…
Latvia has recorded the country’s first outbreak of measles since 2018, according to the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC), LETA reports. SPKC has so far registered 36 cases, most of them children, and the number of cases continues to rise, LETA reports. Many of the infected children are students at Riga Waldorf School,…
Authorities in Latvia and Lithuania have opened investigations into information in documents related to the convicted US sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. The documents contain hundreds of references to Latvia and Lithuania, including indications that Epstein’s associates had recruited young women and children for sexual exploitation through local modelling agencies, LETA and LRT reported. Latvia’s State…