The figures provide insights on a regional basis within Latvia, showing that between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2022 – the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – the crude rate of natural population cange was negative in all parts of Latvia. Latgale region exhibited the largest rate of population decline at -17 per 1,000 people, while the Pierīga region surrounding the Latvian capital was the least affected at -2.8 per 1,000 people, making it the only one pf Latvia's regions with a rate comparable to the EU average.
In 2021, the EU’s crude rate of natural population change was -2.7 per 1 000 people. At the NUTS 3 level, 980 regions out of 1 164, for which data are available, had a negative rate of natural population change (represented by the gold tones in the map), 173 regions registered a positive rate and 11 regions saw no change (same number of births as deaths), both represented in green-blue tones on the map.
Source datasets: demo_r_gind3 and demo_gind
In 2021, every NUTS 3 region of Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal and Romania registered a negative crude rate of natural population change. In Czechia, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia’s cases, almost every region recorded a negative rate with one exception each: the capital region of Hlavní město Praha, Bolzano-Bozen, Poznański and Gdański, the capital region of Osrednjeslovenska, and the capital region of Bratislavský kraj and Prešovský kraj, respectively.
The regions most affected by population loss were all in Bulgaria: Vidin (-25.7 per 1 000 people) and Montana, Kyustendil, Gabrovo, Pernik and Vratsa (all with rates below -20.0 per 1 000 people).
By contrast, every region in Ireland had a positive crude rate of natural population change in 2021, while a relatively high number of regions located in (predominantly northern and eastern) Belgium, France, the Netherlands, (predominantly western) Austria and Sweden also recorded positive rates. This was also the case in Luxembourg and Cyprus (each have only one region).
