Household Tax Rates

The tax wedge is the ratio of total labor taxes to total labor costs. It is often lower for families with children and single parents with children than for individuals or couples without children. The tax wedge has an impact on employment growth.

 
 
Source
Central bank

Bank of Latvia

International Reserves

USD 5.49 billion (2021)
International Monetary Fund (IMF), data retrieved January 2022

Gross Domestic Product - GDP

USD 37.20 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)

USD 65.05 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021

Real GDP growth
2017 2018 2019 2020* 2021*
3.3% 4% 2% –3.6% 4.5%

*Estimate

GDP per capita - current prices

USD 19,538.90 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021

GDP per capita - PPP

USD 34,169.19 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021

GDP (PPP) - share of world total
0.05% (2021 estimate)
 
 
Source
GDP - composition by sector
  • agriculture: 3.8% 
  • industry: 19.2% 
  • services: 64%

(2020 estimate)

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D; (% of GDP)

0.6% (2019)

OECD, retrieved January 2022

Inflation
2017 2018 2019 2020* 2021*
2.9% 2.6% 2.7% 0.1% 2.6%

*Estimate

Unemployment rate
2017 2018 2019 2020* 2021*
8.7% 7.4% 6.3% 8.1% 7.7%

*Estimate

Household saving rates

9.1% (2020)

 

Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP)
2017 2018 2019 2020* 2021*
39% 37.1% 37% 43.5% 47.6%

*Estimate

Public deficit (General government net lending/borrowing as a % of GDP)
2017 2018 2019 2020* 2021*
0.3% 0.2% 0.5% –3% –7.8%

*Estimate

Government bond ratings

Standard & Poor's:  A+

Moody's: A3

Standard & Poor's / Moody's (January 2022)

Market value of publicly traded shares
N/A
Largest companies

N/A

 
 
Source
Current account balance

USD -0.38 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021

Current account balance by percentage of GDP

-1% (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021

Exports as percent of GDP (Exports of goods and services)

60.3% (2020)
World Bank - World Development Indicators (updated Feb 2022)

Shares in world total merchandising export

0.09% (2020)

Shares in world total commercial services export

0.1% (2020)

Total exports

USD 20.2 billion (2020 estimate)

Export commodities

Lumber, broadcasting equipment, whiskey and other hard liquors, wheat, packaged medicines (2019)

Total imports

USD 19.8 billion (2020 estimate)

 
 
Source
Import commodities

Refined petroleum, broadcasting equipment, cars, packaged medicines, aircraft (2019)

Exports - major partners

Lithuania 16%, Estonia 10%, Russia 9%, Germany 7%, Sweden 6%, United Kingdom 6% (2019)

Imports - major partners

Russia 21%, Lithuania 14%, Germany 9%, Poland 7%, Estonia 7% (2019)

FDI inflows
2019 2020 2021
USD 967 million USD 874 million USD 873 million
FDI outflows
2019 2020 2021
USD 205 million USD –105 million USD 268 million
Value of cross-border M&A, by country of purchaser
2018 2019 2020 2021
–3.5 million –1.2 million 3.1 million –23 million
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2014

N/A

Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2015

N/A

Best countries for doing business

Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.

Overall ranking: 19 out of 190 countries (2020)

Subcategories:

Starting a Business: 26 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 56 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 61 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 25 out of 190 countries
Getting Credit: 15 out of 190 countries
Protecting Minority Investors: 45 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 16 out of 190 countries
Trading across Borders: 28 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 15 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 55 out of 190 countries
World Bank - Doing Business 2020

Global competitiveness ranking

88 out of 141 (2019)

Index of Economic Freedom

Ranking: 18 / Score: 74.8 (Mostly Free)

(100=totally free 0=totally repressed)

The Heritage Foundation - 2022 Index of Economic Freedom

 
 
Source
Time zone

UTC+2

Total area

64,589 sq km

Capital

Riga 

Currency

Lati (LVL)

Government type

Parliamentary republic

Languages

Latvian (official) 56.3%, Russian 33.8%, other 0.6% (includes Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian), unspecified 9.4%; note - data represent language usually spoken at home (2011 est.)

Religions

Lutheran 36.2%, Roman Catholic 19.5%, Orthodox 19.1%, other Christian 1.6%, other 0.1%, unspecified/none 23.5% (2017 est.)

Total population
1990 2000 2010 2015 2020
2.7 million 2.4 million 2.1 million 2.0 million 1.9 million
 
 
Source
Urban population as % of total population
1960 1980 2000 2020
53% 67.1% 68.1% 68.3%
Population median age

44.4 years (2020 estimate)

Population growth rate

-1.11% (2022 est.)

Life expectancy

75.9 years (2022 est.)

Literacy

Total population: 99.9%

Male: 99.9%

Female: 99.9% (2018)

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write 

% of population living on less than $3.10 a day

0.7% (last available estimate, 2019)

Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index)

34.5 (last available estimate, 2019)

(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)

Freedom House rating

Total score: 88/100

Status: Free

Political Rights: 37/40

Civil Liberties: 51/60 (2022)              

(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free rating)

Source
Total telephone subscribers as % of population

Fixed: 11.2%

Mobile: 108.8% (2020)

(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)
(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)

Internet users as % of total population

88.9% (2020)

Mercer Cost of living index

N/A

CO2 emissions

4.0 metric tons per capita (2018)

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