Re: Latvians Regain Majority in Riga After 50 Years

Never listen to Hui, Eugene (unless changing lati to dollars at
unbelievably advantageous rates!) -- the article states that Latvians
are probably again the largest ethnic group in Rīga, but that
obviously does _not_ make Latvians the majority.

But where do you get the figure for Rīga being approximately
two-thirds Russian-speaking no more than five years ago, Eugene? Even
in 1989, ethnic Latvians were 36,5% of the population in Rīga
(according to the census, also quoted in the article). By 2000, that
share had risen to 41% (census). At the beginning of 2005 (by
registration data), ethnic Latvians made up 42,3% of the population --
with Russians at 42,6%. Eglājs is expecting a further shift when the
new numbers are released in a month.

Source for percentages -- http://tinyurl.com/82j33

"Russian speakers" is a slippery concept, but there are numerous
Lettophones among the ethnic minorities and there are also a few
Russophones among the Letts (more of the former than the latter).

The number of children studying in Latvian language schools recently
surpassed the number of those studying in Russian language schools.
Though the Latvian population is shrinking, the "Russian community" is
shrinking faster.

And note that Rīga went from a population of 909 135 in 1990 to 731
762 in 2005. Eglājs is noting the movement of Latvians to the suburbs
and abroad, and the repatriation and emigration of the Russians, but I
suspect that it will be a while before the true extent of the recent
wave is clear.

I think Kazys is more than a bit off base with the idea that Russian is
superfluous except among beggars -- the "new citizens," mostly
Russophones, are richer, better educated, and happier than citizens as
a whole, and studies of business environments show that Russian
speaking managers rarely use Latvian.

Eglājs, writing in a right-wing rag, tempers his joy at the
demographic changes with a swipe at national policy (read:
naturalization) and "the propaganda of cosmopolitanism in the mass
media." Raw numbers about ethnicity do not give a very good picture of
society -- the lack of an option for multiple ethnicity, a focus on
ethnicity rather than language, and a dearth of detail on the
socio-economic character of the changes also skews the perspective.

Visu labu,
/P

.

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