RIGA — Starting Monday, Latvia abolished additional payments for parents of newborn children as part of the emergency cutbacks. The measure, though expected, is expected to deal a further blow to the country’s already dire demographic predicament.

The Ministry of Welfare said that additional payments of 100 lats (€140) for the first child, 150 lats for the second and 200 for the third were to be annulled as of April 5. The ministry said the one-time, 296 lat (€417) payment per childbirth will remain.

The additional payments came into force in [private_supervisor]Jan. 2006, at the peak of Latvia’s economic boom, as a means of stimulating childbirth and compensating parents for the runaway inflation at the time.

Subsequent statistics indicated that the payments system did have the desired effect for a while, though years must pass before any such policy is able to facilitate any meaningful, long-term change in the number of newborns.

Alas, in Latvia the worst recession on record struck, depriving tens of thousands of jobs and forcing the government to backtrack on promised welfare for young parents. The government has also abolished payments to working parents, which, while they were in effect, allowed parents to spend more time at home to take care of the newborn — a system that has proved tremendously effective in countries such as Sweden.

Regardless, the development can only be disastrous for Latvia, which has the third smallest population of youngsters in the European Union. Some 13.8 percent of the population is aged 0-14, according to the state statistics bureau, and only Bulgaria (13.4 percent) and Germany (13.7 percent) are lower. In Denmark, the analogous number is 18.4 percent, one of the highest in Europe.

Over the long haul, Latvia’s population is, one could argue, in jeopardy. Last month Peteris Zvidrins, a professor at the University of Latvia, said the country’s population is likely to shrink to 2 million by 2030. He said over the last decade Latvia has 133,000 less people and that the population is getting older.

“We are aging fast – our average figures are climbing very rapidly,” Zvidrins said, adding the average age was just over 40.

Last year the state statistics agency forecast that by 2050 Latvia’s population would contract to 1.87 million people. In 2008 the population shrank by 12,000, the agency said. Data for 2009 is not yet available, though the agency in December forecast that the number of newborns would amount to approximately 22,000, or 8.5 percent less than in 2008. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]Jan. 2006, at the peak of Latvia’s economic boom, as a means of stimulating childbirth and compensating parents for the runaway inflation at the time.

Subsequent statistics indicated that the payments system did have the desired effect for a while, though years must pass before any such policy is able to facilitate any meaningful, long-term change in the number of newborns.

Alas, in Latvia the worst recession on record struck, depriving tens of thousands of jobs and forcing the government to backtrack on promised welfare for young parents. The government has also abolished payments to working parents, which, while they were in effect, allowed parents to spend more time at home to take care of the newborn — a system that has proved tremendously effective in countries such as Sweden.

Regardless, the development can only be disastrous for Latvia, which has the third smallest population of youngsters in the European Union. Some 13.8 percent of the population is aged 0-14, according to the state statistics bureau, and only Bulgaria (13.4 percent) and Germany (13.7 percent) are lower. In Denmark, the analogous number is 18.4 percent, one of the highest in Europe.

Over the long haul, Latvia’s population is, one could argue, in jeopardy. Last month Peteris Zvidrins, a professor at the University of Latvia, said the country’s population is likely to shrink to 2 million by 2030. He said over the last decade Latvia has 133,000 less people and that the population is getting older.

“We are aging fast – our average figures are climbing very rapidly,” Zvidrins said, adding the average age was just over 40.

Last year the state statistics agency forecast that by 2050 Latvia’s population would contract to 1.87 million people. In 2008 the population shrank by 12,000, the agency said. Data for 2009 is not yet available, though the agency in December forecast that the number of newborns would amount to approximately 22,000, or 8.5 percent less than in 2008. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]Jan. 2006, at the peak of Latvia’s economic boom, as a means of stimulating childbirth and compensating parents for the runaway inflation at the time.

Subsequent statistics indicated that the payments system did have the desired effect for a while, though years must pass before any such policy is able to facilitate any meaningful, long-term change in the number of newborns.

Alas, in Latvia the worst recession on record struck, depriving tens of thousands of jobs and forcing the government to backtrack on promised welfare for young parents. The government has also abolished payments to working parents, which, while they were in effect, allowed parents to spend more time at home to take care of the newborn — a system that has proved tremendously effective in countries such as Sweden.

Regardless, the development can only be disastrous for Latvia, which has the third smallest population of youngsters in the European Union. Some 13.8 percent of the population is aged 0-14, according to the state statistics bureau, and only Bulgaria (13.4 percent) and Germany (13.7 percent) are lower. In Denmark, the analogous number is 18.4 percent, one of the highest in Europe.

Over the long haul, Latvia’s population is, one could argue, in jeopardy. Last month Peteris Zvidrins, a professor at the University of Latvia, said the country’s population is likely to shrink to 2 million by 2030. He said over the last decade Latvia has 133,000 less people and that the population is getting older.

“We are aging fast – our average figures are climbing very rapidly,” Zvidrins said, adding the average age was just over 40.

Last year the state statistics agency forecast that by 2050 Latvia’s population would contract to 1.87 million people. In 2008 the population shrank by 12,000, the agency said. Data for 2009 is not yet available, though the agency in December forecast that the number of newborns would amount to approximately 22,000, or 8.5 percent less than in 2008. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]Jan. 2006, at the peak of Latvia’s economic boom, as a means of stimulating childbirth and compensating parents for the runaway inflation at the time.

Subsequent statistics indicated that the payments system did have the desired effect for a while, though years must pass before any such policy is able to facilitate any meaningful, long-term change in the number of newborns.

Alas, in Latvia the worst recession on record struck, depriving tens of thousands of jobs and forcing the government to backtrack on promised welfare for young parents. The government has also abolished payments to working parents, which, while they were in effect, allowed parents to spend more time at home to take care of the newborn — a system that has proved tremendously effective in countries such as Sweden.

Regardless, the development can only be disastrous for Latvia, which has the third smallest population of youngsters in the European Union. Some 13.8 percent of the population is aged 0-14, according to the state statistics bureau, and only Bulgaria (13.4 percent) and Germany (13.7 percent) are lower. In Denmark, the analogous number is 18.4 percent, one of the highest in Europe.

Over the long haul, Latvia’s population is, one could argue, in jeopardy. Last month Peteris Zvidrins, a professor at the University of Latvia, said the country’s population is likely to shrink to 2 million by 2030. He said over the last decade Latvia has 133,000 less people and that the population is getting older.

“We are aging fast – our average figures are climbing very rapidly,” Zvidrins said, adding the average age was just over 40.

Last year the state statistics agency forecast that by 2050 Latvia’s population would contract to 1.87 million people. In 2008 the population shrank by 12,000, the agency said. Data for 2009 is not yet available, though the agency in December forecast that the number of newborns would amount to approximately 22,000, or 8.5 percent less than in 2008. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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