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INTERACT - Researching Third Country Nationals' Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration ; This report contributes of the understanding of current integration processes in Latvia. Its main aim is to highlight political and public debate about integration in Latvia, which is currently a low-immigration country. The report aims to identify integration processes for third-country nationals. Besides third-country nationals residing in Latvia, there are also a number of non-residents living in the country, which creates a backdrop for integration issues. The report also aims to recognise the main third-country national groups residing in Latvia and to identify tools for integration measures as well as assessing the success of policy implementation. In addition, it aims to show the main activities that exist for third-country nationals' integration in Latvia as well as to shed light on the mechanisms within integration processes in Latvia. As a result of EU funding, integration activities – both practical and informative – have been successfully implemented and serve as a key tools for local society to cope with third-country national integration. ; INTERACT is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Union.

The volatile political and institutional scene in Europe implies that future migration-related decision making can be re-assessed. Implications that migrants face might lead to a remarkable shift in migration trajectories and the need to adopt various future geographic mobility decisions. Therefore, this paper demonstrates to what extent the experimental approach can illustrate future migration-related decision making. This study explores the geographic selectivity of migration intensions of international students under four hypothetical scenarios. The data was collected in 2019 from a sample of international students in Latvia, accounting for 500 experimental participants.The findings suggest that majority of international students studying in Latvia would prefer relocation. Besides, it is indicative that institutional barriers such as the need for a visa are much less critical than economic conditions, wage level and overall quality of life. Such indicative factors as wage level increase in Latvia would substantially boost the possibility to stay in Latvia; however, changes related to family or personal reasons are essential triggers for the students to return to their home countries.

AbstractDrawing on qualitative research, this study endeavours to identify the determinants of return migration of young Romanians and Latvians in light of the most recent global economic crisis (GEC). The decision‐making patterns of young returnees are examined by three main research questions. How do macro‐events, such as the GEC, interfere with individual biographies creating specific return experiences? What can we say about the "crisis returnees", their migration motivations and re‐adaptation in the origin country? What are the main challenges of young adults facing life strategies in such uncertain periods? Data are drawn from 51 in‐depth interviews with Romanian and Latvian young adults, carried out in late 2015 and early 2016. Findings show that return migration is associated with economic conditions, family life, feelings of homesickness, and re‐adaptation experiences. Our results also confirm that youth transitions and migration have become more diversified and complex in the context of the economic crisis.

This paper links geographies of in-flow international students to the higher education system in Latvia and destination country choice rationales. Latvia welcomes international students from diverse geographies. Besides specific sourcing countries like Germany and India, there are also considerably constant and stable flows from former Soviet countries. International students are both an essential source of revenue for higher education institutions and to some extent, replacement of decrease of local students. This study adopts a mixed-method approach and based on the analysis of official statistical data and survey data. The survey reveals views on decision-making process and motives of current full-time international students in Latvia. The results indicate that to an extent, geography sets the main motives for study choice in Latvia. Seldom Latvia is set as the only priority destination country. On the one hand, among others balanced costs and accessibility of quality education in English attract foreign students, thus providing 'second chance' to be successful. On the other hand, Latvia gives the prerogative to have education in the European Union which for long-distance travelled students is a life-time opportunity.

AbstractThe twin phenomena of ageing populations and declining populations are profoundly transforming societies and economies in Europe. Driven by decreasing fertility rates and the continuing increased life expectancy, populations have not been ageing uniformly across time and space. In an increasingly urbanized world, the spatial distribution of the young and the elderly is a matter of growing scholarly and policy interest. In Europe, this process is more pronounced in peripheral areas than in the core regions, while the development of metropolitan areas is associated with suburbanization predominantly driven by young in‐migrants. Latvia is an interesting case study for studying population ageing and its spatial imbalances due to the key role of emigration in population decline and ageing. By employing descriptive and spatial analysis, this study uses data from the Latvian census and population register to explore the relationships between population change and ageing processes. Global Moran's I and the local indicators of spatial association were used to identify spatial systems. The study confirmed global and local spatial autocorrelation for the both examined age variables. Using the Getis‐Ord Gi* method identified spatial clusters of the young and the elderly. We found more pronounced residential clustering of the elderly aged 75 and over in the depopulating region of Latgale, whereas the Riga metropolitan region and areas around the largest towns tend to cluster young residents.

This paper aims to shed light on work-life balance in Latvia during the state of emergency. The COVID-19 outbreak has led many governments to introduce lockdowns. While the restrictions imposed may help to contain the spread of the virus, they may also result in substantial damage to the well-being of the population. The COVID-19 outbreak in Latvia demonstrates the extent and ways in which socio-demographics has determined different patterns of behaviour, attitudes, employment changes and harmonised work and life balance. The study describes the development of COVID-19 in the country chronologically. It shows labour migration to and from Latvia before the COVID-19 outbreak, and then discusses geographical features of the distribution of confirmed COVID-19 cases. The extent of the COVID-19 threat is
assessed focusing on the global, national, regional and intra-family levels. Finally, types of employment and work-life balance are analysed according to the geography and age groups.