92% of Latvians try to save on at least one spending category
A survey by Citadele bank shows that 92% of Latvian residents try to cut costs in at least one spending category. Compared with last year, saving has become more widespread and increasingly affects quality-of-life spending such as entertainment, beauty care and travel.
Latvian residents are weighing their spending ever more carefully: 92% try to save on at least one expense category in their daily lives. This follows from a survey by Citadele bank and the research agency Norstat conducted in October 2026. Compared with last year, saving has become more widespread and increasingly affects spending that shapes quality of life.
Entertainment and beauty care cut first
The most common area for cutbacks is entertainment and leisure activities, named by 33% of respondents, 2% more than a year ago. The other most popular answers also rose this year by two to four percentage points. Last year 27% of residents saved on beauty care; this year the figure is 30%. The share saving on clothing, footwear and accessories grew from 27% to 29%. Cutting back on travel, recreation and cultural events is also a popular choice.
Kārlis Purgailis, chief economist at Citadele, says wage growth has improved household purchasing power, but this does not necessarily mean greater willingness to spend. In his view, such caution may slow the recovery of domestic consumption, especially in the services sector. He also stresses the need to distinguish deliberate saving from situations in which people are forced to give up essentials such as health care, which he says points to financial vulnerability.
People in their forties save the most
Residents aged 40 to 49 save the most. At this stage of life people typically have to cover housing costs, support children and build savings at the same time. Purgailis notes that prolonged forced saving in this group may affect both domestic consumption and economic growth. Older people cut back in fewer individual categories but more often try to save wherever they can.
Saving on food declines with age: 27% of people aged 18 to 29 named it, compared with 12% of those aged 60 to 74.
Riga residents save more on food
In Riga, 22% of residents save on food, while in other regions the figure ranges from 10% to 16%. The economist links this to the high cost of living in the capital.
The online survey covered more than 1,000 residents aged 18 to 74 in each Baltic country.
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