Ukrainians are the 4th largest community of Latvia, forming 2,2% of total population.

Ukrainians are the only large Latvia’s minority to date completely to the Soviet occupation, as there was no significant Ukrainian community in Latvia before World War 2. As Ukrainians were the second largest nation of the Soviet Union, they naturally made up a significant share of the Soviet settlers.

While many of the Ukrainians would have spoken the Ukrainian language natively at the time they came to Latvia, there were never any Ukrainian language institutions available in Soviet Latvia. Ukrainians were expected to integrate into a wider Russophone culture, which most of them did, speaking Russian to their own children. That’s why the Ukrainian minority is little visible today.

Ukrainian numbers peaked 3,5% in 1989. After independence, a third of them left Latvia. Today, however, the Ukrainian numbers are increasing again as migrants leave beleaguered Ukraine. These new Ukrainians of Latvia are often more patriotic and less Russified.

Making 2,2% of Latvia‘s population, Poles are the country‘s largest non-Soviet minority.

Their forefathers have arrived to Latgale in 17th-18th centuries when this area was ruled directly by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poles made up the local nobility at the time, funding nice manors and Baroque Catholic churches. To this day, Polish language masses are common in these churches and the Poles remain Catholic.

Some of Latvia‘s Poles may actually have mostly Lithuanian forefathers. That’s because the Lithuanian nobility effectively Polonized in 17th-18th centuries as the Polish culture was seen as the more prestigious one at the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the era.

Compared to other ethnic groups, the Polish share remained rather stable throughout the 20th century, declining from 2,8% in 1925 to 2,2% in 2011.

Their culture may have taken a bigger hit however, with many Polish families switching their native tongue to Russian during the Soviet occupation.

Jewish population of Latvia has burgeoned in the 19th century when the ruling Russian Empire limited Jewish settlement to just a few regions. Latgale (Eastern Latvia) was among such regions. Some of the Latgalian towns thus even became Jewish-plurality, including the region‘s hub Daugavpils. Elsewhere in Latvia, the Jewish populations were limited by Russian laws and therefore remained small.

By ~1900 Latvia‘s Jews were rapidly emigrating for more opportunities abroad (mainly in the USA). The trend has continued throughout the 20th century.

During the Nazi German occupation of Latvia (1941-1945), most of the remaining Jews were either killed or fled the country, their share declining from 4,8% in 1935 to 1,8% in 1959.

During the Soviet occupation, the rest of Jews have largely moved to Riga, although their population continued to decline due to emigration to Israel. This emigration reached its zenith after the 1990 independence, when Soviet migration restrictions were removed. Jews made up 0,9% of Latvia‘s population in 1989 but just 0,3% today.

Traditionally, Latvia’s Jews spoke Yiddish and professed Judaism. However, many Jews became communists and assimilated into the “Soviet nation”. Today therefore the majority of Latvia’s Jews speaks Russian natively and are atheists.

Many of the prettiest buildings in Latvia have been conceived or funded by ethnic Germans: the palaces, the castles, the churches… Having came to Christianize the land Germans amassed immense power, becoming the lords of the land.

While Germans lost sovereignty over Latvia in the 16th century, even under the subsequent alternating Polish, Lithuanian, Swedish and Russian regimes they remained the elite, controlling Latvia’s lands and businesses. They were known as “Baltic barons” and still made up 6,2% of population in 1897.

Urbanization and enlightenment of the Latvian peasantry ~1900 broke the German monopoly on leadership and culture. After Latvian independence (1918) emigration and lower birth rates made German share decline to 3,2% by 1935.

But the complete end to the Latvia’s German community came with World War 2 and the subsequent Soviet Genocide, which all but destroyed the German community. Germans had to flee the land that was their home for centuries, those who couldn’t or didn’t were murdered. Much of the remaining cultural heritage in Latvia was destroyed. Since then Germans make up merely 0,1% of Latvia‘s population.

Historically Germans were primarily concentrated in southern and western Latvia (Semigallia and Courland) as well as Riga. Well into the 20th century they made 25%-50% of population in many towns and cities there. Beyond the city limits however there were very few Germans.

Estonians and Latvians are neighboring but extremely different nations. Estonians speak a non-Baltic and non-Indo-European language, more similar to Finnish.

Despite such differences, Estonia and Latvia were ruled by the same powers for centuries and before 1918 there was never any official border between the two countries.

Border delimitation was difficult and at heart of these difficulties laid the Walk city. Populated by both Latvians and Estonians, it was partitioned in two: Estonian Valga and Latvian Valka. Despite such careful considerations and radical measures, thousands of Latvians and Estonians remained on the “wrong sides of the border”. Latvia had some 7000 Estonians in 1935, or 0,4% of population.

Throughout the 20th century, however, the numbers of Estonians were on a constant decline, both due to assimilation and migration to Estonia. There were 4334 Estonians in 1970 (0,2%) and only 2652 in 2000 (0,1%).

Recently though the numbers of Estonians may have somewhat risen again, as Riga reasserted its role as the capital of the Baltics and European Union removed migration restrictions.