INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN LATVIA

Peteris Zvidrins

Head of Dpt of Statistics and Demography University of Latvia

Prepared for the Seminar “Migration in the post-Soviet area: trends, effects and prospects”, organized by the Moscow State Lomonosov University on 2-3 December 2011

Moscow, 2 December 2011

Long-term migration in Latvia

Year Immigration Emigration Net migration

1986-1990 242 638 213 044 29 594

1991-1995 30 872 168 230 -137 388

1996- 2000 12 223 47 064 -34 841

2001- 2005 7 778 17 268 -9 482

2006 - 2010 15 285 33 532 -18 247

Migration of ethnic Latvians and Russians in Latvia during 2000-2010

Immigration Emigration Net migration

Latvians Russians Latvians Russians Latvians Russians

2000 263 723 653 3 787 -390 -3 064

2001 250 522 544 3 645 -294 -3 123

2002 171 376 225 1 333 -54 -957

2003 259 274 281 984 -22 -710

2004 352 325 432 1 168 -80 -843

2005 491 427 564 971 -73 -544

2006 351 890 1 046 2 172 -695 -1 282

2007 652 645 994 1 937 -342 -1 292

2008 561 653 2 085 2 225-1 524

-1 572

2009 343 748 2 293 2 574-1 950

-1 826

2010 373 1 005 4 584 3 439-4 211

-2 434

TOTAL 4 066 6 588 13 701 24 235 -9 635 -17 647

Structure of population change, 2000-2010, (% of the number on beginning of 2000)

Irel

and

Lux

embo

urg

Cyp

rus

Spa

inM

alta

Nor

way

Fra

nce

Bel

gium

Ital

yU

nite

d K

ingd

omS

wed

enA

ustr

iaN

ethe

rlan

dsP

ortu

gal

Den

mar

kE

U27

Gre

ece

Fin

land

Slo

veni

aC

zech

Rep

ubli

cS

lova

kia

Ger

man

yP

olan

dH

unga

ryE

ston

iaR

ussi

aR

oman

iaL

atvi

aL

ithu

ania

Bul

gari

a-10.0

-5.0

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

MigrationNatural change

Source: EUROSTAT database

Negative Net Migration in Latvia during 2000-2011 (thousands)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Estimation by theauthor

CSB data

Government views on migration policies in 2009

Source: World Population Policies 2009, UN, NY, 2010

View Policy View Policy

Denmark Too high Lower Satisfactory No interv.

Finland Too low Raise Satisfactory No interv.

Norway Satisfactory Maintain Too low Raise

Sweden Too low Raise Satisfactory No interv.

Germany Satisfactory Maintain Satisfactory No interv.

Poland Satisfactory Raise Too high Lower

Estonia Satisfactory Maintain Satisfactory No interv.

Latvia Satisfactory Maintain Satisfactory No interv.

Lithuania Satisfactory Maintain Satisfactory No interv.

Russia Too high Lower Too high No interv.

CountryImmigration Emigration