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’s State Defence Council has decided to introduce universal military conscription in 2032, President Gitanas Nauseda announced, BNS reports. Universal conscription will apply to men ages 18 to 22 years, replacing the current selective draft. Women will still be able to volunteer for military service. Nauseda said that about 7,500 young men would be drafted…
Women have accounted for around 60% of all students in higher education in Estonia since at least 2010, ERR reports. In health and welfare majors, there were 5,553 female and just 1,246 male students. At the same time, men account for 54% of students in vocational education. Estonia’s latest PISA results show that girls outscore…
The Baltic States have among the highest suicide rates in the EU, according to Eurostat, LSM reports. The data show that the number of suicides in Lithuania was 562 in 2023, which was up from 532 in 2022. Suicides totalled 270 (231) in Latvia and 199 (195) in Estonia. Lithuania’s standardised death rate for intentional…
Latvia’s United List continues to oppose the ratification of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women, but is not committed to withdrawing from the treaty immediately, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated, LETA reports. He said that the question should not be made into a top political priority, given that the treaty had…
Altogether 14 political groups have submitted lists of candidates for Latvia’s upcoming parliamentary elections in October 2026, according to the Central Election Commission (CVK), LETA reports. The number of candidates registered totals 1,434. In the previous parliamentary elections in 2022, there were 19 lists with 1,829 candidates. Only 33.1% of all candidates running in 2026…
A third of Latvian car drivers admit driving under the influence of alcohol, according to a new Norstat survey carried out in April 2026, LETA reported. The survey showed that 32% of respondents admitted to drinking and driving sometimes, which was up from 31% a year earlier. As many as 42% (41%) of men and…
The number of marriages registered in Estonia totalled 5,998 in 2025, which was 363 fewer than in 2024, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reported. The number of new marriages was the lowest since 2012. The first-marriage rate was 0.45 for men and 0.52 for women. The average age at first marriage was 31.8…
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….
