The percentage of Latvians saying that they would like to emigrate to Western countries if they had such a chance has increased slightly over the past year, the director of the SKDS research centre, Arnis Kaktins, has said.
In October 2024, the percentage of such respondents was 37%, close to the 38% that were posted in 2012.
55% of surveyed people said no, they have no plans to emigrate, while 7% claimed to be undecided.
One year earlier, in October 2023, 33% of respondents said they wanted to emigrate, 61% rejected the thought, and 6% were undecided.
SKDS says that the desire among Latvians to emigrate hit the high point in October 2009, at the height of that year’s global financial crisis, when 53% of respondents voiced a wish to move to a more prosperous country further to the West. Since 2010, the share of such respondents has been decreasing, albeit unevenly as time has one by.
Source: BNS
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