At the beginning of this year, 1,182,000 people classed as ethnic Latvians lived in Latvia. The number of Latvians in Latvia has decreased by 74,300 since 2011 in absolute numbers.
However, the proportion of Latvians in the total Latvian population has increased. In 2011 Latvians constituted 60.5% of the total population, while at the beginning of 2022 the figure was 63%.
According to the CSB, the ethnic composition of the population varies significantly between regions and cities. At the beginning of 2022, Latvian residents in Rīga, Daugavpils, and Rēzekne accounted for less than half of the total population of these cities.
The smallest proportion of Latvians to all residents is in Daugavpils with 20.9%. The largest proportion is in Valmiera with 85.4%. Among the regions, the largest proportion of Latvians was in Vidzeme - 87.9%, and the smallest in Latgale - 46.5%.
The proportion of Russians in Latvia at the beginning of this year was 24.2%, Belarusians – 3.1%, Ukrainians 2.2%, Poles – 1.9%, and Lithuanians – 1.1%.
The total share of other nationalities is 4.5%.
The average age of a Latvian is 40.5 years, Russian 48.4 years, Belarusian 56.4 years, Ukrainian 53.4 years, Pole 52.1, and Lithuanian 52.1 years.
At the beginning of 2022, the highest average age in Latvia was for Jews - 57.3 years, while the lowest average age was 27 for Indians – probably accounted for by the presence of Indian students at Latvian universities.
