Top 7 Events That Have Affected (or Will Affect) Life in Latvia (November 12-19) 0 9

Looking for Girls

Actually, such news during Patriotic Week is sabotage. But we have no other news. In the first nine months of 2025, 8,883 newborns were registered in Latvia, which is 10.9% (or 1,092 children) less than in the same period last year.

Among the registered children, there were 4,643 boys - this is 4.3% (or 209 boys) less than a year earlier, and 4,240 girls, which is 17.2% (or 883 children) less than in 2024. We would like more girls to give birth to Latvians. However, as life experience shows, girls grow up and give birth not only to Latvians but also to Germans, Italians, and anyone else.

In the same nine months of 2025, 19,186 deaths were registered in Latvia, which is 3% (or 591 cases) less than in the same period of 2024, when 19,777 deaths were recorded. Thus, the number of deaths exceeded the number of newborns by 10,303 people, whereas a year earlier this figure was 9,802 people.

As of October 1, 2025, the population of Latvia was 1.828 million people.

Vaccination of Landfills Has Begun

The government has "thrown away" more than 4 million euros into medical waste containers. That is how much 83,508 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer cost, which had to be destroyed.

Not only in Latvia but also in many other countries, people no longer see the need for annual vaccinations. In the USA, for example, the vaccination coverage of the adult population at the end of December 2024 was about 21% - the lowest rate since the introduction of Covid-19 vaccines, which is half the coverage of the flu vaccine (42%).

Ryanair Discontinues Paper Tickets

The Irish low-cost airline Ryanair announced significant changes to its flight rules: starting November 12, the airline will completely stop using paper boarding passes.

Now all passengers are required to check in online and use digital boarding passes in the official Ryanair mobile app.

Those who do not check in online in advance will have to pay for the printing of their boarding pass at the airport (from 30 to 55 euros depending on the airport). Ryanair clarifies that if a passenger's phone runs out of battery or is lost before security control, a new boarding pass will be issued for free at the airport.

If the problem arises after passing through security, airline staff will be able to recover the data and assist in boarding the flight.

Nevertheless, Ryanair emphasizes: "Online check-in before departure remains mandatory for all travelers."

Flowers Have Become Cheaper. Should We Be Happy or Not?

In October, the annual inflation rate was 4.3% compared to 4.1% in September. In the food and non-alcoholic beverage group, prices increased by 5.6% over the year, and everything related to housing became more expensive. Since a proportionally larger amount of money from the low-income category of citizens goes to food and utility payments, it can be said that inflation is higher for the poor.

The biggest price increases were recorded for coffee (+35.3%), poultry meat (+18.3%), eggs (+21%), chocolate (+18.2%), confectionery (+5.8%), butter (+11.3%), and milk (+5.6%). Dairy products (+4.1%), beef (+28.3%), vegetable oil (+11.6%), fresh fruits (+2.3%), cheese and cottage cheese (+1.8%), fruit and vegetable juices (+6.1%), ice cream (+5.7%), and yogurt (+4.7%) also became more expensive. Fresh vegetables (-7.1%), olive oil (-11.3%), sugar (-6.9%), fresh or chilled fish (-5.8%), flour, and other grain milling products (-2.5%) became cheaper. In addition, flowers have also become cheaper.

Migration: No Space!

The capacity of accommodation centers for asylum seekers in Latvia is approaching a critical limit, the Ministry of the Interior reported.

In 2022, 546 people applied for asylum in Latvia, in 2023 there were 1,624 people, in 2024 - 801 people, and by October 30 of this year, 1,057 people had requested asylum.

As of October 31, the occupancy of two accommodation centers for asylum seekers - Mucenieki in the Ropaži municipality and Liepna in the Alūksne municipality - exceeded 80%. Currently, the number of asylum seekers is increasing by about 45-50 people per week, the Ministry of the Interior reported.

Data: Disorder in the Clouds

On Thursday, the operation of cloud services provided by the State Joint Stock Company "Latvian State Radio and Television Center" (LSRTC) was disrupted. Cloud storage is a service for storing data volumes not on the client's equipment but in large data storage centers. Therefore, malfunctions in the operation of the state storage cannot help but cause concern.

Important and popular services among the public, such as the systems of the State Land Service, were not working. There were interruptions in confirming electronic identification and signing documents using the "eParaksts" tools. The website of the municipal enterprise SIA "Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks" e-parvaldnieks.lv and the mobile application were also unavailable, and disruptions were observed on the website of the Enterprise Register and many others.

Although LSRTC swears that the disruptions are not related to cyber threats, it raises concerns about the security of personal data.