Income inequality in Latvia and Lithuania was among the highest in the EU in 2025, according to Eurostat data, LSM reported. Latvia’s Gini coefficient, which measures wealth distribution, stood at 35.6, which was up from 34.2 in 2024 and the second-highest in the entire EU. Lithuania’s Gini coefficient was the EU’s third-highest at 35.5 in…
Over a quarter of people in the Baltic States could not afford one week of annual holiday travel away from home in 2025, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. In Lithuania, 30.9% of residents could not afford one week of holiday travel in 2025, which was down from 32.2% in 2024. The corresponding share was…
Three political groups in the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, have signed an agreement on a new coalition government, BNS reports. The new ruling coalition will include the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), the Union of Democrats for Lithuania, and the joint parliamentary group of the Lithuanian Union of Farmers and Greens and the Electoral Action…
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%…
Poverty in Lithuania has increased across the country, particularly in remote regions, LRT reports. Nearly 700,000 people are living below the poverty risk threshold. The average poverty level in rural areas is almost twice as high as in cities. In some municipalities, every third resident is living in poverty. Ugne Uzgale, head of strategy and…
The Estonian government has agreed on switching to need-based social benefits in 2028, Education Minister Kristina Kallas announced, BNS reports. She argued that the state and taxpayers could no longer afford distributing equal support to everyone, and that doing so was not even necessary. Better data would allow the state to provide better personalised services, Kallas…
The lowest level of material and social deprivation in the Baltic States was in Estonia in 2023, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. Estonia had altogether around 31,000 people who were suffering from severe material and social deprivation in 2023, which was down from 40,000 in 2022. The number stood at 108,000 (135,000) in Latvia…
The share of children at risk of poverty in the Baltic States was lower than the EU average in 2023, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. The statistics showed that as many as 21.7% of children under the age of 18 years in Lithuania were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023, compared…
The number of poor people in need of assistance in Latvia has been decreasing in recent years in the regions of Kurzeme and Latgale, but has increased in the capital, Riga, according to the state-run Society Integration Foundation (SIF), LSM reports. More than 20% of all poor and low-income people received food aid and basic…
