Russian populaion of Latvia

Ethnic Latvians are the majority of Latvia’s population (59%). Russians are the largest national minority of Latvia. Their numbers exceed 638,000, or 28% of the country’s population. The traditional Russian national minority of Latvia started to develop in the second half of the 17th Century. The present day Russian minority of Latvia is a result of several waves of migration, the most massive of them is related to the labour migration of the Soviet period. The waves have mostly merged and party mixed with the indigenous population. At present, residents of Latvia of Russian ethnic origin together with people of other ethnic backgrounds for whom Russian is the first language form the Russian linguistic community (Rusophone community of Latvia), representing up to 40% of the population of the country.

Today Latvian Russians can be met in all regions of Latvia, but the largest part of the Russian national minority (71%) is concentrated in the larger towns