Latgale is recognized as the poorest region in the Baltics; in the first place – Vilnius

Kaunas is also not sleeping and is rapidly chasing after Riga: in 2015 the gap between Riga and Kaunas was 30% and in 2022 only 19%. Most other regions of Lithuania also showed rapid growth, but the gap between Vilnius and other regions of Lithuania is still quite large. The relatively higher proportion of less wealthy regions in Lithuania explains why Estonia, which is essentially a one-city state, has a higher GDP per capita than Lithuania. Estonia’s GDP per capita in 2022 reached 76% of the EU average and 67% of Lithuania’s.

The Latgale region is still the poorest region in the Baltic States, and the gap between Latgale and other Baltic states continues to grow. This is quite a big challenge for Latvia – especially considering the increased confrontation between East and West and the fact that Latvians (46%) do not make up the majority of the population in this region.

During a bicycle ride along the eastern border of the Baltic states, the economist noticed that in other cities of Latgale, for example, Krāslava, Ludz, Dagda, the Russian language dominates the public space. The bad use of Latvian and English language distances this region not only economically, but also in terms of value from the European Union.

It is interesting that Estonians in the Narva region (Ida Viruma) in Estonia make up an even smaller share of the population (18%) than Latvians in Latgale, but this region is twice as rich as Latgale, which reduces the desire of the residents of the region to admire the regimes of Russia and Belarus.

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