The Quick Trap
Who would borrow 200 lats to repay one thousand or even three after one year? Latvians, however, are making this unbelievable choice ever more often. While many have yet to recover from the crisis, the quick credit business is fully…
The Other Side of Latvia’s ‘Success’ Story
They longed for their home so much, but…
When the bustle of Bergen, a large Norwegian city on the country’s west coast, recedes into the night, Inese Liepina and her husband Peteris go to work. Around midnight, Peteris stacks about 1,000 newspapers into Ineses trunk, and about 6,000…
So Rich, So Poor
When a year ago, Dzintra Briede got divorced, lost her job and all of her income, this mother of four moved in with her father, who lives in the small village of Bunka, in the Western Latvia. Turns out that…
The Hardest Part was When We Couldn’t Afford Bread
This week Latvia lost another family. The Birgelis family from Puikules moved to Germany to start a new life, as they couldn’t earn enough money even for bread in Latvia. The story from Puikule: about those that have left and…
Average Income per Family for Top 10% and Bottom 90% of Latvia’s Society
he richest 1% of Latvian households earn on average 3018Ls while the bottom 90% of households earn on average 425 Ls per month.
Life with ‘God’s Mercy and the Goodness of Others’
Latvia’s painful austerity program and recent economic growth is presented to the world as a success story and a model for other struggling countries resisting cuts. Re:Baltica’s investigation finds that Latvia has some of the highest poverty, unemployment and income…