It is important for every country that its territory develops evenly and in a balanced way. In the European Union (EU), a special focus is placed on the development of rural territories, as predominantly rural regions in the EU represent 57% of the territory and 24% of the population. In Latvia, the development of rural territories depends on economic growth in the key industries for the rural areas – agriculture and forestry, and logging that contributed to 4.3% of GDP and employed 9.5% of the labour force in 2011. Therefore, the research aim is to perform an assessment of the administrative territories of Latvia. The research analysed the municipalities of Latvia in terms of population and change in the population as well as in terms of revenue and income and change in the revenue and income. The research found that in Latvia the best economic performance was demonstrated by the municipalities with a population in the range of 8-12 thousand. In the period 2004 – 2014, the number of residents decreased by more than 20% in 49 municipalities of Latvia. Such municipalities are located far away from the capital city, and poor economic performance indicators with a prevailing primary sector were typical of the municipalities. The municipalities with higher tax revenue had larger populations, which increased in the period of analysis, and such municipalities are located in the vicinity of Riga and high economic performance indicators were characteristic of them.

Social protection for families with children is one of the priorities Latvia has highlighted in its strategic planning documents. Moreover, the priority being advanced for several planning periods indicates on the necessity to improve social security and foster the birth rate in the country. The research aim is to develop priority scenarios for possible improvement of social protection for families with children in Latvia. The authors put forward four scenarios for the improvement of social protection for families with children in Latvia, of which the experts in the field recognised the replacement of the personal income tax relief for children with a larger family state benefit as the priority. This would ensure fairer support for all families with children, including those on low incomes. Also, increasing the minimum wage and reducing the shadow economy would improve the social protection of families with children. Evaluating the criteria of population interests, the experts recognised the increase of family social security as more important than the increase in the number of children in the family, as the increase of social protection would contribute to the increase in the number of children in families thereof.