Latvia's student numbers have fallen about 42% since 2005
Latvian universities and colleges had 76,400 students in the 2025/2026 academic year, against 131,100 in 2005. An opinion piece in business daily Dienas Bizness calls for stable funding and equal competition among institutions.
The number of students in Latvia has fallen sharply over the long term: 131,100 people studied at universities and colleges in 2005, compared with 76,400 in the 2025/2026 academic year. The figure has edged up in the past two years but remains roughly 42 percent below its peak. The data appear in an opinion article published by the Latvian business daily Dienas Bizness on the future of higher education and the competition between countries for talent.
Demographics are not the only explanation
The article notes that student numbers have dropped faster than the overall population. One reason is that young Latvians choose to study abroad. According to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), eight percent of Latvian students studied abroad in 2024, most often in the Netherlands and Germany. Foreign students made up about 14 percent of those studying in Latvia, and the number of mobile (international) students rose from 5,293 in 2014 to 11,900 in 2025/2026.
UNESCO data show that the global student population grew from about 100 million in 2000 to 269 million in 2024. In several countries foreign graduates can receive a residence permit for one to three years after finishing studies, while in Latvia graduates have a four-month period and can apply to extend it to nine months to look for work.
Number of institutions and funding
At the start of the 2009/2010 academic year Latvia had 32 universities and 24 colleges; at the start of 2025/2026 it had 24 universities and 21 colleges. The decline is linked to reorganisation: the Riga Pedagogy and Education Management Academy was merged into the University of Latvia, several other institutions were absorbed by Riga Technical University and Riga Stradiņš University, and the Latvian Police Academy was closed. The author regards the closure of the Police Academy as a strategic mistake.
According to the OECD, Latvia's public spending on education fell from 4.6 percent of GDP in 2015 to 3.4 percent in 2023. Higher education received about 0.5 percent of GDP in 2023, and spending per student was roughly a quarter below the OECD average.
The author calls for stable funding, equal criteria for allocating public and EU fund support regardless of an institution's founder, and clear opportunities for graduates to enter the labour market.
