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Inquiries by freephone +371 80008811 on weekdays from 10:00 to 18:00 o’clock and by e-mail at silc@csp.gov.l
Published: 28.01.2022.
European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), based on a common and verified methodology, has been collected in all EU countries for 20 years. It allows to reflect EU-level and national trends and compare various social and economic aspects affecting well-being of households and individuals.
Latvian EU-SILC survey every year covers about eight thousand households, i.e., one in a hundred. It is an opportunity to share opinions about general and financial well-being as well as living conditions, which contributes to the production of objective survey results and depiction of the actual situation.
Survey results will be extensively used by national and local authorities when making decisions that affect everyday life of the inhabitants, e.g., income, benefits, pensions, health care services, etc. Therefore, responsiveness and cooperation are significant to get accurate and fair insight into the life of the population.
Read more about the EU-SILC on the Eurostat website.
The applicable laws and regulations of the European Union and of the Republic of Latvia allows the CSB to collect and process personal data and mandates it to ensure the protection and confidentiality of the data received. Please note that only summarised data will be published, thus preventing identification of individuals. Read more about CSB data protection and processing policy on the CSB website Privacy Policy section.
Web interviewing
The e-survey will be available from 31 January to 21 February 2024 in the CSB Electronic Data Collection (EDC) system e.csp.gov.lv. Please note that it should be filled in by the addressee of the invitational letter.
Only the addressees of the invitational letter are authorised by the EDC system and can log in with Internet bank, e-identification card, or e-signature. If the questionnaire is filled in by another person, he/she shall take a full responsibility for the veracity of the information provided.
Guidelines for respondents on how to fill in the e-survey (available in Latvian only).
Personal and telephone interviewing
If due to some reason respondent is not able to complete e-survey during the web-interviewing period mentioned, he/she will be contacted by a CSB interviewer from 31 January to 30 June 2024 to arrange a telephone or face-to-face interview.
Upon arrival, the interviewer will present a CSB employee identification card with a photo. If you want to verify identity of your interviewer or find out any other information about the survey:
- call the toll-free assistance number +371 80008811 on weekdays from 10:00 to 18:00; or
- contact the CSB by writing to the e-mail address silc@csp.gov.lv
To give stronger support for elderly
EU-SILC shows that more than 40 % of all seniors and 70 % of the seniors living alone are at risk of poverty.
The decisions made have contributed to higher income of the elderly population.
- Higher minimum old-age pension (up from 136 EUR/mo. in 2021 to 157 EUR/mo. in 2023 and to 171 EUR/mo. in 2024).
- Higher national social security allowance to elderly (up from 109 EUR/mo. (before 30 June 2023) to 137 EUR/mo. (after 1 January 2024).
- Higher population income tax and untaxed minimum of retired (from 330 EUR/mo. in 2021 to 350 EUR/mo. in 2022 (from 1 January to 1 July) and 500 EUR/mo. as of 1 July 2022).
- A supplement to old-age and disability pensions paid from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2014 and calculated with a coefficient of EUR 1.52 for each year of insurance period accumulated up to 31 December 1995 was introduced as of 1 January 2024. It has been planned that the supplements will be paid out starting from April 2024, when the January, February and March supplement will be paid along with the April pension.
To support the poorest population
EU-SILC is pointing towards a great income inequality in Latvia. E.g., 23.3 % of the population were at risk of poverty in 2017, moreover, income of the poorest inhabitants was 6.8 times smaller than that of the richest. To achieve sharper increase in the guaranteed minimum income level, the Ombudsman's Office, referring to the EU-SILC, applied to the Constitutional Court with a request for the government to improve living conditions of the population at risk of poverty more significantly.
As of 1 January 2024 the most vulnerable part of the population of Latvia will be supported even stronger.
- The guaranteed minimum income level will increase, reaching 137 EUR/mo. for the first or only person in the household (125 EUR/mo. in 2023) and 96 EUR/mo. for the rest people in the household (87 EUR/mo. in 2023).
- The income threshold of people in need will increase, reaching 343 EUR/mo. for the first or only person in the household (313 EUR/mo. in 2023) and 240 EUR/mo. for the rest (219 EUR/mo. in 2023).
- The maximum income threshold for low-income households will increase, reaching 549 EUR/mo. for the first or only person in the household (501 EUR/mo. in 2023) and 384 EUR/mo. for the rest (351 EUR/mo. in 2023).
In addition, a decision has been made to increase the minimum wage from EUR 620 to EUR 700 as of the 1 January 2024
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