Part of it has to be Ethnic Russians leaving over time after the USSR collapsed, significant but probably not big enough to explain the entire drop.
Desperate_Path_377 on
The Iron Curtain wasn’t keeping Westerners *out* of the USSR and other Eastern European countries. I think virtually all post communist countries saw population declines due to a variety of emigration, already low fertility rates and (in some cases) increased mortality.
Zalagan on
Emigration mostly – Latvia is one of the poorer countries in the EU so lots of people leave for better opportunities
38CFRM21 on
Latvia defining who was considered a citizen which excluded basically any of the ethnic Russians who moved in after the Soviets invaded plus declining fertility like any westernized free society starts drifting towards.
TL:DR, Baltic countries have had below-replacement-level fertility rates and an aging population since the first half of the XXth century that were only offset by massive immigration from Russia, Poland and Belarus mainly. Economic conditions by the end of and after the collapse of the USSR made it even worse, and it only ever so slightly bounced back recently as the country became more prosperous.
But in the meantime the migration flux reversed after the USSR collapse with non-ethnic Balts moving back to their countries and even ethnic Balts moving to more prosperous EU country to better support their lives and careers.
whomstvde on
Country boxed in for decades gets unboxed
Awaytheethrow59 on
About 10% of Latvian SSR population was the stationed Red Army and their families, which obviously withdrew in the 90s.
9 Comments
Part of it has to be Ethnic Russians leaving over time after the USSR collapsed, significant but probably not big enough to explain the entire drop.
The Iron Curtain wasn’t keeping Westerners *out* of the USSR and other Eastern European countries. I think virtually all post communist countries saw population declines due to a variety of emigration, already low fertility rates and (in some cases) increased mortality.
Emigration mostly – Latvia is one of the poorer countries in the EU so lots of people leave for better opportunities
Latvia defining who was considered a citizen which excluded basically any of the ethnic Russians who moved in after the Soviets invaded plus declining fertility like any westernized free society starts drifting towards.
[https://ipc2009.popconf.org/papers/91919](https://ipc2009.popconf.org/papers/91919)
TL:DR, Baltic countries have had below-replacement-level fertility rates and an aging population since the first half of the XXth century that were only offset by massive immigration from Russia, Poland and Belarus mainly. Economic conditions by the end of and after the collapse of the USSR made it even worse, and it only ever so slightly bounced back recently as the country became more prosperous.
But in the meantime the migration flux reversed after the USSR collapse with non-ethnic Balts moving back to their countries and even ethnic Balts moving to more prosperous EU country to better support their lives and careers.
Country boxed in for decades gets unboxed
About 10% of Latvian SSR population was the stationed Red Army and their families, which obviously withdrew in the 90s.
People were allowed to leave.
Women’s rights.