🇱🇻 Latvia: income growth amid structural constraints
Source: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia (EU-SILC survey, 2024)
Income level and growth
Average disposable household income reached €950 per person per month in 2024, up 12.0% year-on-year (2023: +14.6%).
Growth continues, but at a slowing pace.
Education gap
Households where the main earner has higher education averaged €1,213 per person per month.
Where the main earner’s education does not exceed primary level, income averaged €654.
Education remains the strongest income divider.
Household structure and children
Single working-age adults (under 65) have the highest income: €1,256 per person.
Households with children earn significantly less per household member:
Single-parent households: €701
Families with three or more children: €761
This matters structurally, as Latvia has one of the highest shares of single-parent households in the EU, predominantly with one child.
Seniors
Households where the main income recipient is 65+ average €799 per person, well below the national average.
Pension-based households rely primarily on social transfers, not labour income.
With population ageing, this group is growing in size, reinforcing pressure on domestic demand.
Income distribution
Lowest income quintile: €317 per person per month
Highest income quintile: €2,084
Income gap widened: the top quintile earns 6.7× more than the bottom quintile (S80/S20).
Gini coefficient: 35.6 (up from 34.2 in 2023), among the highest in the EU.
Income structure
Labour income: 68.2% of total disposable income on average.
Social transfers: 22.2%.
In the lowest quintile, social transfers account for 51.8% of income; labour income only 40.3%.
Minimum income threshold
Share of population below the minimum income level increased to 8.3% in 2024, the highest since 2018.
Signal
Latvia’s income growth is real but uneven. Education, household composition, and age increasingly determine economic outcomes. A rising share of seniors, a large single-parent segment, and widening inequality act as structural constraints on domestic consumption, even as average incomes continue to rise. BSM © 2026
Image: photos/photo_178@27-01-2026_23-19-59.jpg