Differences by regions and territories in the ability to make ends meet in Latvia

Abstract

Recent rapid development of technologies and artificial intelligence also determines the well-being and feeling of the population on different aspects of being able to make ends meet, as this is one of the aspects analyzed in international comparisons. Very often, those aspects are analyzed and used in political discussions as well as for decision-making on the state and municipality levels. EU-SILC is an internationally conducted survey on income and living conditions in all EU countries and candidate countries, in which respondents also self-evaluate their ability to make ends meet. Aim of the paper is to investigate differences of views on ability to make ends meet by inhabitants in Latvia and compare their views on ability to make ends meet by statistical regions and by territories (urban and rural) and prepare suggestions for possible decision-making in municipalities and NGO organizations to suggest practical steps for improving feeling of inhabitants as often non-material support can be valuable to improve person’s feeling. The key methods applied in the current research are scientific publications studies, analysis of EU-SILC data by statistical regions, by territories (urban and rural), by household size and by income quintile groups. Research results on inhabitants’ views on the ability to make ends meet differ by statistical region or by territory (urban or rural).