Latvian emigration patterns – regional perspective
2012
Apsite, E., University of Latvia, Riga (Latvia)
At the time of high level of emigration from Latvia, there is an increasing concern about the impact on the country development and regional differences of this process within the country. This paper seeks to give comparison between persons who emigrated from the capital of Latvia - Riga and its suburbs, and other regions of Latvia to the United Kingdom. Based on the web-based survey conducted in 2010, the paper aims to distinguish the main differences between emigrants from Riga and regions of Latvia in terms of the dominant emigration reasons and differences for possible return conditions for either of groups. Results suggest that the respondents who moved because of the need to have higher income came from Riga or its surroundings and moved more recently (2008-2010). However, respondents from the regions of Latvia have moved just after the accession, because of the wish to improve knowledge of English. Furthermore, probabilities of return migration suggest that labour migrants coming from Riga are more likely to return than migrants representing family reunification group are. The chance of entrepreneurs to returning to Riga is not high nor for the families created abroad; however, it is more likely for young people to return than for the older ones. Analysis regarding the regions of Latvia shows, that time spent in the UK decreases, while involvement in informal migrant networks increases the probability of return to their former origin.
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