The smallest number of births was registered in Q4 2023 when 2.7 % or 92 children fewer than in Q4 2022 were born. Fewer births than in the corresponding month of 2022 were registered each month of 2023, moreover, apart from the monthly figures being smaller than a year ago, they also were the smallest in the last 100 years.
Last year, 27,724 deaths were registered, which is 3,007 deaths or 9.8 % fewer than in 2022 and 5 deaths more than in 2019 (i.e., before the pandemic). Since 2021, when due to Covid-19 we had the highest number of deaths in the past 20 years, the figure has fallen by 19.9 % or 6,876. The sharpest drop was registered in Q1 2023 – 11.8 % compared to Q1 2022.
There have been two times more deaths than births every year since 2021. The 2023, when the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 13,603, was no exception. The biggest gap between the figures – 17,180 – was registered in 2021. Latvia has had a negative natural increase since 1990.
In 2023, 10 762 marriages were registered, which is 9.2 % or 1,086 marriages fewer than a year ago. The number of marriages was growing gradually since 2020, however in 2023 only 60 marriages more than in 2020 (when due to the pandemic restrictions on gatherings were imposed) were registered.
On 1 January 2024 Latvia provisionally had a population of 1 million 873 thousand, which is 18.5 thousand people fewer than on 1 January 2023.
In Latvia in Q4 2023 compared to Q4 2022:
— Statistics Latvia (@CSB_Latvia) February 14, 2024
👶 birth number down by 2.7 % ;
🕯️ mortality down by 6.5 %;
👩❤️👨 marriage number fell by 16.6 %. pic.twitter.com/M3t3pefgLH
