In all, 18,589 births were registered in 2019, which is 725 births fewer than in 2018. However, the number of children born in 2019 will be updated in May by adding the number of children born abroad, so the figure will certainly improve, albeit slightly. During the last two years 463 children were born abroad (202 in 2018 and 261 in 2017). The definition used by the CSB for children born abroad covers children born to mothers temporarily (up to 12 months) away from Latvia.
It is not all absolute doom and gloom, however. The number of deaths was also in decline – 27,661 deaths were registered in 2019, which is 1,159 deaths fewer than in 2018. The trend has positively affected negative natural increase – in 2018 there were 9,506 deaths more than births, whereas last year only 9,072 deaths more.
In 2019, 12 913 marriages were registered, and, compared to the corresponding period a year ago, the number has dropped by 145. During the past three years, marriage number has stabilised – on average 13 thousand marriages are concluded annually.
At the beginning of 2020, the provisional population of Latvia accounted for 1,908,000 thousand people. Over the year, the number has declined by 0.6 % (by 0.7 % in 2018).
