Estonia’s annual number of live births dropped to a new record low in 2023, according to data from the Ministry of Interior, ERR reports. The number of people born totalled 10,721 in 2023, which was down 867 from 11,588 a year earlier. Deaths totalled 15,832, which was down 1,413 from 17,245 in 2022. Deaths thus…
Same-sex marriage is now legal under Estonian law as of 1 January 2024, ERR reports. The law allows two consenting adults to marry irrespective of their gender. Minister of Social Protection Signe Riisalo said that the law ensured equal rights, ending years of legal uncertainty. Same-sex couples, previously able to register civil partnerships, now enjoy…
The Latvian government has approved a draft law on ratifying the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women and domestic violence, LSM reports. An accompanying declaration states that Latvia will apply the convention in line with the Constitution, “in particular with regard to the protection of human rights, equality between women and men,…
If Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda decides to veto the government’s bill on gender-neutral civil unions, it would cause an “international scandal,” Economy Minister Ausrine Armonaite, chairwoman of the liberal Freedom Party, stated, BNS reports. Speaking in an interview on Ziniu Radijas, Armonaite urged Nauseda to take a stronger position on “defending European values.” Nauseda has not…
Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice has proposed amendments to a controversial law that protects minors from information about LGBT people, LRT reports. The ministry proposed removing a provision stipulating that “information that denigrates family values and promotes a different concept of marriage and family” than the one enshrined in the Constitution is harmful to minors. The…
Priority activities in Latvia’s welfare sector require budget funding of EUR 108.7mn in 2024, Welfare Minister Evika Silina stated, Baltic News Network reports. She noted that providing sufficient funding for the welfare sector was an investment into a “stable and well-off society.” Silina said that budget funding was needed for hospice care, child protection, support…
Estonia has almost 800 children living in orphanages out of a total of 3,000 children who are unable to grow up with their birth families for various reasons, ERR reports. Around 1,500 children are in foster care, 600 have been adopted, and a little over 150 are in temporary foster care. Maarja Kuldjärv, head of…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, is working on a "national agreement" to address the issue of a declining population, LRT reports. Currently, one in three households in Lithuania consists of single individuals living alone, which has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. This trend includes both seniors, particularly women due to a significant gender…
A new procedure has come into force in Lithuania in cases of domestic violence as of July 2023, LNK reports. If domestic violence is reported, police can order the suspect to leave the house immediately for 15 days. There are an average of 55,000 reports of domestic violence a year, and 86% of the victims…