Lithuania’s excess mortality, which surged during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, has now returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to experts, LRT reports. In the first eleven months of 2023, nearly 32,000 people died, which was down from almost 39,000 in the same period a year earlier, 43,000 in 2021, and 37,000 in 2020. Despite…
The Estonian government has agreed on the state budget for 2024, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced, ERR reports. Under the agreement, the government will introduce no new taxes in addition to ones implemented earlier. The government will not impose a new tax on commercial banks, which will instead pay more taxable dividends. Also, the government…
Lithuania had the highest suicide rate in the EU in 2020, according to Eurostat data, LSM reported. The number of suicides in Lithuania totalled 21.25 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2020, which was down from 33.38 in 2011. The suicide rate was 16.87 in Vilnius and the surrounding area. In central and western Lithuania, the suicide…
Latvia’s Health Ministry has proposed amendments to further restrict the availability of alcohol, LSM reports. The amendments would reduce the sales hours of alcoholic beverages, ban sales of alcohol at petrol stations, and raise the legal drinking age to 20 years. The ministry hopes that the amendments will reduce alcohol consumption, illness, injuries, and mortality….
Latvia’s Health Inspectorate has banned swimming on beaches in the port city of Liepaja, following a sewage leak from the city’s water treatment plant into the Baltic Sea, LSM reports. Also, the State Environmental Service (VVD) has recommended residents not to swim in coastal areas from Liepaja north to Saka parish. At the same time,…
Shorter alcohol sale hours in Lithuania have led to a decline in male deaths on Sundays and Mondays, according to a new study, BNS reports. Daumantas Stumbrys, senior researcher at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU), found that the mortality rate spiked on Sundays and Mondays, but had decreased to the weekly average since…
Latvia is likely to have a new three-party coalition government consisting of Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins’s New Unity and two current opposition parties, the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and the Progressives, in August 2023, Ilona Berzina writes for Baltic News Network. Previously, Karins had assured that New Unity would not cooperate with ZZS…
Latvia’s Radiosurgery Centre Sigulda (SRC Sigulda) has become the first stereotactic centre in the Baltic states to receive certification from the International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society (ISRS), DELFI reports. The ISRS certification acknowledges that the clinic’s equipment, medical staff, and treatment processes align with the highest international standards. SRC Sigulda is part of Sigulda Hospital.
Sales of non-alcoholic beers have soared in Estonia over the past five years, Postimees reports. Kristiina Tamberg, head of communications and CSR at Prisma Peremarket, said that the market of non-alcoholic beers has been on an upward trend for several years. Sales of alcohol-free beers increased by 20% in 2021 and by another 8% in…