Data released by Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) on October 19 show that the first nine months of 2020 produced 8,694 marriages in Latvia, which is 1,865 or 18% fewer year-on-year.

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 accelerated 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% fewer births than in the first nine months of 2019.

This year, 20,600 deaths had been recorded by the end of September, which is 102 or 0.5% down compared to 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 civil registry offices was 1,489, which is 7.5% fewer 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 more deaths than births. As a result, on October 1, 2020, the estimated population in Latvia was 1,898,000.