Healthcare in Latvia

Healthcare in Latvia is slightly above average in a global comparison.

Probably the most important indicator that can be used to summarize the efficiency of all measures is general life expectancy. In other words, the theoretical age that a newborn child could potentially reach today. At the moment, this age in Latvia is 70.9 years for men and 80.1 years for women. For comparison: worldwide life expectancy is about 3.2 years lower (men: 69.8 / women: 74.9 years).

A total of 1,166.80 USD per inhabitant is spent annually on health measures at state expense. This corresponds to approximately 6.6 percent of the gross domestic product. Internationally, this amount averages 1,115.01 USD (~ 9.8% of the respective GDP).

Back to overview: Latvia

Spread of COVID-19 in Latvia

Current incidence in the week ending 03/28/2023: 9.4 new infections per 100,000 population

Since the beginning of the pandemic until March 28th, 2023, a total of 976,535 infected people and 6,286 deaths have been reported in Latvia.

The total of 976,535 infected people currently represents 51.19 percent of the total population. The number of new infections during the seven days preceding March 28th, 2023, was 180, for a 7-day incidence of 9.4 cases per 100,000 population. In the same week, seven people died from (or with) COVID-19. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, this results in a mortality rate of about 0.6 percent in Latvia.

Current vaccination status

According to official WHO data, a total of 2.98 million vaccine doses have been administered as of March 19th, 2023. More recent data are not yet available to WHO. There are 1.34 million people who have received at least one vaccination (70.5 percent). The booster vaccination was received by 550,329 people (28.9 percent).

1.30 million of these are considered fully vaccinated in Latvia (= 68.4 percent).
This means that Latvia is only in the middle of the field in terms of vaccination coverage. The vaccination rate is higher in 92 countries.

Weight and size

	Male	Female
Body height	180 cm	168 cm
BMI	27.1	26.4
Weight	87.9 kg	74.5 kg

Diseases

	Latvia	Ø worldwide
Diabetes *	5.00%	8.81%
Tuberculosis	0.16‰	1.34‰
HIV / Aids	0.06%	0.03%

* The number of people suffering from diabetes refers only to inhabitants aged between 20 and 79 years.

Child vaccinations

	Latvia	Ø worldwide
Measles	97.0%	81.7%
Hepatitis B	0.09%	0.08%
DTP *	9.40%	8.14%

* DTP is a combined basic vaccination against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus, which should be given to children up to the age of 23 months.

In Latvia, 37.0 percent of all over 15-year-olds are still smokers.
The number of underweight newborns is 5 percent.

Medical supplies

The medical care provided by doctors and hospitals in Latvia is above average and also exceeds the average achieved in the EU countries. The country provides 5.5 hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants. The global mean here is 2.9 beds. Within the EU, 4.6 beds are available for every 1,000 residents.

With about 6,020 physicians in Latvia, there are about 3.19 doctors per 1000 inhabitants. Here again the comparison: worldwide this standard is 1.50 physicians per 1,000 inhabitants and in the EU is 3.57.

Through medical care, the mortality rate of major known diseases can be reduced as far as possible. For example, only about 22 percent of all people who suffer from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or chylomicron retention disease (CRD) currently die.

Drinking water supply

About 96 percent of the population has access to an immediately available, running drinking water supply. At least via springs and wells within a maximum distance of 30 minutes or supplied water, 99 peprcent of the population is supplied with largely clean drinking water. The population is thus better served than average. In a global comparison, only about 74 percent of the population has direct access to tested and always available drinking water. Within the European Union, this share is 98 percent. Only in a few countries does the proportion fall below 10 percent.

Sources

The above data correspond to the information from the World Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Statistics, UNICEF, State of the World's Children, Childinfo, Global Health Observatory Data Repository and OECD. The case numbers for the spread of the COVID-19 come from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Average age by countryRising average age worldwide: since 1950 alone, more than 4 years. A list by country.

Average life expectancy by countryInternational ranking of life expectancy in 123 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.

Quality of life in country comparisonCompare the quality of life around the globe: In which countries is life pleasant, safe and healthy?