Latvia remains near EU bottom as poverty affects 22 percent

Latvia has the European Union’s second-highest share of people at risk of poverty, with 22 percent of residents affected, LSM reported. Only Bulgaria has a higher rate.

At a soup kitchen in Ziepniekkalns, a Riga district, people begin gathering well before it opens. Others gradually join them, and many appear to know one another. Some travel from distant parts of Riga because they say the food is better there than elsewhere.

On the day visited, the kitchen was serving boiled potatoes, salad and a cutlet. But poverty, rather than the food, has brought the people together.

Single pensioners, most often women, face particularly high poverty risks. They account for 52.6 percent of this group. Single-parent families are another group facing a high risk.

Latvia has introduced several measures in recent years to reduce poverty risks and narrow the inequality gap. However, it remains near the bottom among EU countries.

“Horror and hell,” said Laura, a woman in her 40s whose name was changed, describing her recent financial situation and prospects. She is raising a six-year-old son alone and lives in the area around Riga.

The child’s father has never been present in their lives, and Laura has no relatives who could help, for example by looking after her son. Her total income after tax is about 600 euros. She owns her home but needs a car to get to work and collect her child from kindergarten because public transport runs infrequently.

“Every minute is very important to me so that I can earn money and manage to combine everything, and that also takes time. I earn money, pay for everything, fill up with fuel and that is it. I have nothing left. Absolutely nothing,” Laura said.

Laura works for a catering company. She said she cannot afford enough food and is allowed by her employer to take leftover meals home when there are any.