Ethnic Groups
Latvians have been always the largest ethnic group in Latvia during the past century, but minority peoples have always been numerous. Before WW II the proportion of non-Latvians was approximately 25%, the Russians being the largest minority (app. 10%), followed by Jews (approx. 5%), Germans and Poles (2-3%). After World War 2 only small numbers of Jews and Germans remained and following a massive immigration of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, Latvians almost became a minority. In 1989, the proportion of Latvians had decreased to only 52% (75.5% in 1935). Despite the decreasing number of Latvians due to low fertility rates, the proportion of Latvians has considerably increased during the past two decades and reached 62.1% in 2011 (slightly higher than the 62.0% in 1959). This is due to large scale emigration of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The number of these peoples almost halved between 1989 and 2011.
| Ethnic group |
census 1925 | census 1935 | census 1959 | census 1970 | census 1979 | census 1989 | census 2000 | census 2011 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Latvians | 1,354,126 | 73.4 | 1,472,612 | 75.5 | 1,297,881 | 62.0 | 1,341,805 | 56.8 | 1,344,105 | 53.7 | 1,387,757 | 52.0 | 1,370,703 | 57.7 | 1,285,136 | 62.1 |
| Russians | 193,648 | 10.5 | 206,499 | 10.6 | 556,448 | 26.6 | 704,599 | 29.8 | 821,464 | 32.8 | 905,515 | 34.0 | 703,243 | 29.6 | 557,119 | 26.9 |
| Belarusians | 38,010 | 2.1 | 26,867 | 1.4 | 61,587 | 2.9 | 94,898 | 4.0 | 111,505 | 4.5 | 119,702 | 4.5 | 97,150 | 4.1 | 68,202 | 3.3 |
| Ukrainians | 512 | 0.0 | 1,844 | 0.1 | 29,440 | 1.4 | 53,461 | 2.3 | 66,703 | 2.7 | 92,101 | 3.5 | 63,644 | 2.7 | 45,798 | 2.2 |
| Poles | 51,143 | 2.8 | 48,949 | 2.5 | 59,774 | 2.9 | 63,045 | 2.7 | 62,690 | 2.5 | 60,416 | 2.3 | 59,505 | 2.5 | 44,772 | 2.2 |
| Lithuanians | 23,192 | 1.3 | 22,913 | 1.2 | 32,383 | 1.6 | 40,589 | 1.7 | 37,818 | 1.5 | 34,630 | 1.3 | 33,430 | 1.4 | 24,479 | 1.2 |
| Jews | 95,675 | 5.2 | 93,479 | 4.8 | 36,592 | 1.8 | 36,680 | 1.6 | 28,331 | 1.1 | 22,897 | 0.9 | 10,385 | 0.4 | 6,437 | 0.3 |
| Roma | 2,870 | 0.2 | 3,839 | 0.2 | 4,301 | 0.2 | 5,427 | 0.2 | 6,134 | 0.3 | 7,044 | 0.3 | 8,205 | 0.3 | 6,489 | 0.3 |
| Germans | 70,964 | 3.8 | 62,144 | 3.2 | 1,609 | 0.1 | 5,413 | 0.2 | 3,299 | 0.1 | 3,783 | 0.1 | 3,465 | 0.1 | 3,042 | 0.1 |
| Estonians | 7,893 | 0.4 | 7,014 | 0.4 | 4,610 | 0.2 | 4,334 | 0.2 | 3,681 | 0.2 | 3,312 | 0.1 | 2,652 | 0.1 | 2,007 | 0.1 |
| Livonians | 1,268 | 0.1 | 944 | 0.0 | 185 | 0.0 | 48 | 0.0 | 107 | 0.0 | 135 | 0.0 | 180 | 0.0 | 250 | 0.1 |
| Others | 5,504 | 0.3 | 3,398 | 0.2 | 8,648 | 0.4 | 13,828 | 0.6 | 16,979 | 0.7 | 29,275 | 1.1 | 24,824 | 1.1 | 26,640 | 1.3 |
| Total | 1,844,805 | 1,950,502 | 2,093,458 | 2,364,127 | 2,502,816 | 2,666,567 | 2,377,383 | 2,070,371 | ||||||||
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Latvia
Famous quotes containing the words ethnic and/or groups:
“Caprice, independence and rebellion, which are opposed to the social order, are essential to the good health of an ethnic group. We shall measure the good health of this group by the number of its delinquents. Nothing is more immobilizing than the spirit of deference.”
—Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
“Women over fifty already form one of the largest groups in the population structure of the western world. As long as they like themselves, they will not be an oppressed minority. In order to like themselves they must reject trivialization by others of who and what they are. A grown woman should not have to masquerade as a girl in order to remain in the land of the living.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)