After a seasonal rise in marriages during the summer months, in September this year, the number of marriages fell 44 % compared with August. Compared with 2019, when this decrease was 42 %, the fall was recorded at a faster rate this year, with 10 % fewer marriages registered in September this year than in September last year.
The largest decline in the number of marriages compared to the 2019 data was in May and June, when about 500 fewer marriages were registered each month (a fall of 52 % and 37 %, respectively). The decline in the number of marriages registered was affected by the declaration of the emergency situation in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the CSB said.
Numbers of births and deaths were also down on the year.
Between January and September, 13,500 live births were registered, which is 731 or 5.1 % less births than in the first nine months of 2019.
This year, 20,600 deaths have been recorded by the end of September, which is 102 or 0.5 % less than in January-September last year. In nine months, the population decreased by 7,100 as a result of natural population change (it decreased by 6,500 in the corresponding period of 2019).
In September 2020, the number of births registered in the civil status registry offices was 1,489, which is 7.5 % less than in the corresponding month last year. The number of registered deaths was 2,173, that is 0.4 % more than in September last year.
In September of this year there were 684 deaths more than births.
Asa result, on 1 October 2020, the estimated population in Latvia was 1,898,000.
