Latvia

Latvia is set to become the latest member of the Eurozone when it joins on January 1st, 2014. This will make the 17-nation currency bloc one country bigger, following the lead of two other former Soviet states, Estonia and Slovakia. The small eastern European country, with a population of just 2 million, became a member of the European Union free market in 2004, and finally got the green light to join the single currency zone in June of 2013. From Wednesday, Latvians will be able to exchange…

Latvia, a small republic located in north-eastern Europe, has been the subject of a new documentary made by Deutsche Welle. The documentary crew visited Latvia more than a decade ago and has now returned to see how the country and its people have changed. In this film, the team meets and interviews the people they talked to before and hears their stories of how they've been getting along in the past decade. The film begins with the team visiting a brick factory in Cēsis where they speak with…

The former Soviet Union was a vast region that encompassed a number of countries with distinct cultures, economies, and political systems. In 2013, the region was still recovering from the economic and political upheavals of the previous decades, and minimum wages varied widely across the countries that made up the former Soviet Union. Previously I have already measured and compared minimum wages in Baltic states, Caucasus and Central Asia. All of these once were a part of the Soviet Union.…

Minimum wages in the Baltic states are the lowest ones in the European Union. In 2013 minimum wage in Baltic states was $427 in Estonia, $379 in Latvia and $385 in Lithuania. Update: Minimum Wage Set to Rise in the Baltic States in 2018 Difference between "richest" Estonia and "poorest" Latvia in 2013, in terms of minimum wage, was = $48   Estonia has announced to increase its minimum wage by 35 EUR both in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 minimum wage in Estonia will be $474. Latvia plans to…

t is fascinating to compare the economic growth of the Baltic states and Caucasus regions and make predictions on their future growth. The competition between these two regions to achieve a GDP of 100 billion USD is intense. In 2012, the total GDP of the Baltic states was 92.47 billion USD, while that of the Caucasus was 92.94 billion USD, with the latter leading by just 47 million USD. With 2013 already underway, it is interesting to take a look at the forecasts for each country and make…

The Baltic states and Caucasus region both have unique economic landscapes that make for an interesting comparison. Let's start by looking at the GDP in each of the six countries in 2012. Azerbaijan was the wealthiest country with 67.2 billion USD, followed by Lithuania with 42.25 billion USD, Latvia with 28.37 billion USD, Estonia with 21.85 billion USD, Georgia with 15.83 billion USD, and Armenia with 9.91 billion USD. It's interesting to see that Azerbaijan was the clear winner when…