Suchergebnisse

Since the Baltic countries have joined the European Union, the value of personal satisfaction with life has fluctuated – decreased or increased – along with GDP per capita until the crisis, i.e. until 2009; afterwards, the nature of this dependency started to change across the countries. The novelty of the current research study is the analysis of the people's SWB dependence upon the economic development indicators in the Baltic countries after their accession to the EU, conducted in the context of the results of previous research studies on the topic. The research aim is to review theoretical research studies on the interrelation of people's SBW and economic development of the country, as well as to analyse the situation in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The following research methods were applied: the monographic method and regression analysis. The findings of the research study showed that Estonia was the leader among the three Baltic countries in all the economic development indicators considered, whereas Latvia was behind in all the indicators; moreover, the level of personal satisfaction with life was the highest in Estonia, although, as the results of the regression analysis demonstrated the SWB of people in Estonia was the least dependent on the economic development indicators.

This article aims to study the medium-term fertility trend in Latvia answering the following research question: is it possible to increase fertility in the near future, as planned in the "Population Reproduction Strategy FAMILY – LATVIA – 2030 (2050)"? The authors analyzed the total fertility rate (TFR) in Latvia for the period of 1970–2022 (53 years). This interdisciplinary (demography, mathematics, economics, sociology) study applies mathematical analysis for investigating socio-demographic trends, as well as the theory of economic cycles for identifying demographic cycles and their phases in Latvia and forecasting fertility rate in the near future. Furthermore, the analysis of data from comparative sociological surveys helped the authors to understand the main reason for the decline in fertility in Latvia. This reason is value changes in society, in which the child is no longer at the center of the value system of men and especially women in Latvia. In turn, short-term ups and downs in fertility are determined mainly by socio-economic and political factors. Based on the results of differentiating the function of the total fertility rate (TFR) it can be expected that the decline in fertility in Latvia will continue for several more years before the bottom of the next demographic cycle is reached and there will be an upturn in a linearly declining fertility trend. Although, the upcoming bottom will be lower than the previous one, i.e. below 1.22–1.25 children on average per woman and the next peak will most likely be below 1.74. Thus, the increase in TFR in Latvia to 1.77 by 2027, planned in the "Population Reproduction Strategy," is considered by the authors of this study to be absolutely unattainable.

The subject of this study is the participants in artificial sociality (humans and artificial intelligence (AI) tools) and communication between them. The first section analyses (using Luhmann's methodology) communication as the basis of sociality. The second section shows how AI tools became social technologies in the framework of artificial sociality. The third section describes experimental communication between authors and AI tools (the case of ChatGPT). For the first time in the Baltic countries, the authors examined sociological, humanitarian, natural and technological aspects of the functioning AI tools, which participate in creation of a new social reality for human society – artificial sociality.

International audience ; Iceland was identified as a typical country with relatively high achieved competitiveness level and at the same time negative growth capacity - so, with eroded sustainability of territory development. As a research hypothesis the authors suggest that Iceland's social and economic interactions with other "worlds-economies" are not diversified enough. The analysis of export/import and international migration flows of Iceland shows that a market-capitalist "world-economy" is an absolute leader (80-90 %) for Icelandic international trade and migration. Analysis of air logistical interconnections shows that a kind of sub-"world-economy" is formed which can be referred to as a Northern-Atlantic one. As results of regression analysis show social and economic interactions with the representatives of its own "world-economy" mainly draw Iceland's sustainable territory development in their direction, and, as the trends of their development are negative or stagnate (USA and Spain), Iceland's trend of sustainable territory development is also drawn after them. In its turn, rather infrequent social and economic interactions with other "worlds-economies" either do not influence significantly Iceland's sustainable territory development (as interactions with Brazil do) or influence in the opposite way (as interactions with China do). Therefore, the practical efficiency of recommendation of Human Development Report 2013 to interact more actively with other "worlds-economies" is not so far proved in social and economic reality - at least, in the case with Iceland as a typical highly-developed capitalist country.

International audience Iceland was identified as a typical country with relatively high achieved competitiveness level and at the same time negative growth capacity - so, with eroded sustainability of territory development. As a research hypothesis the authors suggest that Iceland's social and economic interactions with other "worlds-economies" are not diversified enough. The analysis of export/import and international migration flows of Iceland shows that a market-capitalist "world-economy" is an absolute leader (80-90 %) for Icelandic international trade and migration. Analysis of air logistical interconnections shows that a kind of sub-"world-economy" is formed which can be referred to as a Northern-Atlantic one. As results of regression analysis show social and economic interactions with the representatives of its own "world-economy" mainly draw Iceland's sustainable territory development in their direction, and, as the trends of their development are negative or stagnate (USA and Spain), Iceland's trend of sustainable territory development is also drawn after them. In its turn, rather infrequent social and economic interactions with other "worlds-economies" either do not influence significantly Iceland's sustainable territory development (as interactions with Brazil do) or influence in the opposite way (as interactions with China do). Therefore, the practical efficiency of recommendation of Human Development Report 2013 to interact more actively with other "worlds-economies" is not so far proved in social and economic reality - at least, in the case with Iceland as a typical highly-developed capitalist country.

This article analyses fertility rate trends in Latvia over a medium-term period of 53 years, from 1970 to 2022, aiming to predict the immediate prospects for population replacement. The novelty of this interdisciplinary research, which encompasses demography, mathematics, economics and sociology, lies in applying mathematical analysis to the study of socio-demographic processes, which has not been attempted before by Latvian or international researchers. Moreover, this study is the first to draw on the theory of economic cycles to identify demographic cycles and their phases in Latvia and predict the near-term birth rate in Latvia. Furthermore, analysing comparative data from 2004 and 2022 sociological surveys cast light on the principal cause of Latvia's declining fertility rate. This shift is due to changes in societal values, where the family and children no longer hold a central place, which is particularly true of women in Latvia. Consumerism-driven value changes have ceased to be a sine qua non of achieving their life goals and ambitions. Facilitating an increase in the fertility rate would require considering Latvian society's values and pursuing socioeconomic policies that comprise both internal measures, such as increasing residents' financial security, and external initiatives, including neighbourliness promotion. Latvia's fertility rates will continue to decline for several more years until the trough of the following demographic cycle is reached, which will be lower than that of the previous cycle. There will be an upturn within the linear downward trend in birth rates - but even this anticipated rise will not reach the earlier peak. Thus, as the findings of the study suggest, the projected increase in Latvia's total fertility rate to 1.77 children per woman, as envisioned by the FAMILY - LATVIA - 2030 (2050) Population Reproduction Strategy, is practically unattainable by 2027.

In modern social science, the concept of multidimensional poverty is considered the most progressive approach to measuring poverty in countries of various development levels, including the developed ones. As an indicator of poverty in the EU, the multidimensional index of the risk of poverty and social exclusion (AROPE) is used, which integrates the indicators of income poverty, material deprivation and exclusion from the labour market. The empirical basis for its calculation is the data of the survey "Statistics of income and living conditions in the EU" (EU-SILC), published by the statistical office of the European Union. Within the framework of this article, the authors tried to contribute to the theoretical and methodological basis for studying the issue of multidimensional poverty by measuring and analysing it within the framework of the resource approach using the empirical data collected by the authors in one of the peripheral regions of Latvia - Latgale, which for many years has had the lowest indicators of economic development in the country. The resource-based approach is founded on the following methodological path: resources available for the people and households can be transformed into capital as a result of its activation and capitalization that, in its turn, can give the person socially economic benefit, i.e., a resource becomes a capital. The methodology of this study involves the application of new concepts: the "resource-poor" (few resources) and the "functional-poor" (low capitalization of available resources), as well as the "resource-functional poor", who, according to the authors, represent different target groups for the social policy, since they fundamentally differ in terms of both the causes of poverty and the approaches to supporting these groups.