Population of Latvia, by gender 1950-2020

Since 1950 there has been a relatively large difference in the number of males and females in Latvia, particularly when put in context with the total overall population. The number of women exceeds the number of men by over 260 thousand in 1950, which is one of the long-term effects of the Second World War. During the war, Latvia lost approximately 12.5 percent of its overall population, an the number of women was already higher than men before this, however the war caused this gap in population to widen much further. From 1950 onwards both male and female populations grow, and by 1990 the gap has shrunk down to 180,000 people. In 1990 Latvia gained it's independence from the Soviet Union, and from this point both populations begin to decline, falling to 870 thousand men in 2020, and just over one million women, with a difference of 150 thousand people.