European Commission: Joint Research Centre, Bongiardo, D., Chiaramello, D., Dara, A., Cortinovis, R. et al., Atlas of migration 2024, Bongiardo, D.(editor), Dara, A.(editor), Crespi, I.(editor) and Sofos, I.(editor), Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

The Atlas of Migration is more than just a publication—it is a testament to the power of data and rigorous analysis in illuminating the multifaceted nature of migratory movements. The 2024 edition of the Atlas continues to serve as a vital tool for policymakers, researchers and the public at large, offering a wealth of data to cut through the confusion and misinformation that often surrounds the discourse on migration. The Atlas provides the latest harmonised and validated data on migration for the 27 EU Member States and for 171 countries and territories around the world. It brings together data from many reliable sources, such as Eurostat, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, the World Bank and many others. This year’s thematic chapter of the Atlas delves into the nuanced motivations behind migration, moving beyond simplified narratives in favour of a more comprehensive view that acknowledges the diverse and often overlapping reasons that propel individuals to move.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers and Centre for Education Initiatives, Civil society monitoring report on the implementation of the national strategic framework for Roma equality, inclusion, and participation in Latvia, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2838/1500884

Since 2022, the Roma policy in Latvia has been implemented within the framework of the National Roma Strategy, ensuring the continuity of this strategy until 2027. Although a comprehensive study of the Roma situation has been conducted and improvements have been made to the monitoring of the implementation of the National Roma Strategic Framework (NRSF), the evaluation of the NRSF – ‘Plan for the Implementation of the Roma Strategic Framework for 2022-2023’ (hereinafter referred to as NRSF 2022-2023) was not carried out prior to the NRSF for the new period (2024- 2027) was developed and approved.

In order to address the diversity of country and territory codes and names used in the EU institutions, the European Commission has developed a corporate code list of countries and territories that covers the different use cases its services have.

European Union, Directorate General for Justice and Consumers, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

Latvia is a parliamentary State, where Parliament is the only legislator. This legislator, however, has the right to delegate legislative functions to the Cabinet of Ministers and to municipalities. Delegated legislative powers always have to be made explicit in the laws adopted by Parliament. In the case of delegated legislative competence, the Cabinet of Ministers adopts the regulations for the Cabinet of Ministers, and municipalities adopt binding regulations for the municipalities.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers and Kamenska, A., Publications Office of the European Union, 2024.

Latvia is a multi-ethnic country, although the proportion of the different ethnic groups among its population has varied. Ethnic origin is recorded in the population register. It is based on the ethnicity of either of a person’s parents and can be changed upon reaching the age of majority by choosing the ethnicity of any grandparents.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Education and training monitor 2024 – Latvia, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/691102

The Education and Training Monitor’s country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within the European Education Area. They are based on the latest available evidence. The Key indicators section presents a statistical overview of the main education and training indicators. Section 1 focuses on learning for sustainability. Section 2 covers early childhood education and care. Section 3 deals with school education policies. Section 4 covers vocational education. Section 5 discusses measures in higher education. Section 6 covers adult learning.

European Investment Bank and Ipsos Public Affairs, EIB investment survey 2024 – Latvia overview, European Investment Bank, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2867/8828902

This unique insight into the corporate investment in Latvia examines companies' finance needs and the constraints they face. The 2024 edition also provides insight into the pressing issues facing firms, such as climate change, high energy costs and the green transition. The survey, which has been administered since 2016, covers about 13 000 firms across the European Union, including a small sample of US firms.

Papini, A., Pluta, A. and Christl, M., EUROMOD country report – Latvia – 2021-2024, Papini, A.(editor) and Christl, M.(editor), Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/2375577

This report documents the work done in the most recent annual update for Latvia. This work was carried out by the EUROMOD core development team, based at the JRC in Seville, in collaboration with the national team.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Environment, Stevens & Bolton LLP and Fogleman, V., Facilitating enforcement of the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) by competent authorities – Latvia, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2779/952527

There were 53 ELD occurrences in Latvia up to the end of 2021. Compared with other Member States, the level of enforcement of national ELD legislation is moderate to good.1 This is due in large part to the implementation and enforcement of national ELD legislation for all land, water and biodiversity damage occurrences that occur after 30 April 2007 regardless of whether they are ELD occurrences. That is, national ELD legislation, not national liability legislation, applies to all land, water and biodiversity damage occurrences in Latvia. This does not necessarily mean that primary, complementary and compensatory remediation is applied to all ELD occurrences. Instead, a regulation that sets out procedures for calculating losses of water and biodiversity damage and which allows monetary compensation for such damage is applied to some ELD occurrences instead of primary, complementary and compensatory remediation under the ELD.

The country profile on food safety is a compilation of key information for each Member State used by European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety to support its control and monitoring activities.

European Investment Bank, Ferrazzi, M., Schanz, J. and Wolski, M., Growth and competitiveness in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe – The role of innovation, European Investment Bank, 2025.

This paper examines the state of innovation in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern EU countries. Despite increased innovation capacity, the region faces significant challenges threatening its growth and competitiveness, including severe skills shortages, uneven productivity, and barriers to commercialising innovation. The paper highlights the role of foreign direct investment in driving innovation, noting that firms established through greenfield investments exhibit higher productivity than their domestic counterparts.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support, Public administration and governance – Latvia, 2023, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2887/0897043

Overall, government effectiveness in Latvia remains below the average among the European Union Member States (EU‑27) and has decreased since 2019 (before the impact of COVID‑19). The significant government reforms initiated before COVID‑19 were slowed down during the pandemic. Now, the government faces multiple challenges to further digitalising the public sector, including requests for tax reforms, pressure to expedite an increase in the remuneration for health care and education professionals, and to review public expenditures. The general trend of public administration reform over the last decade was to reduce operational and administrative costs in the Latvian public sector with the support of measures such as e-services, better regulation, and reassessing public expenditures. Even though the reform speed was negatively affected by COVID-19, Latvia has still been able to proceed with necessary reforms, where e-services and digital government are the key factors.

European Commission: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE), Oxford Economics, Syntesia, Poniatowski, G. et al., VAT gap in the EU – Country report 2024 – Latvia, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2778/5992378

The VAT Gap represents the difference between expected VAT revenues and those actually collected, reflecting compliance challenges, policy inefficiencies, and enforcement gaps. As part of the European Commission’s ongoing efforts to improve VAT compliance and revenue collection, these 27 country reports provide in-depth analyses of the VAT Gap at a national level. Each report offers a detailed examination of a specific Member State’s VAT Gap trends, key drivers, and the impact of policy measures.