Baltic states ANALYSIS Countries of old men? Demographic challenges in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ZANE VĀRPIŅA February 2018 n Baltic countries, along with other developed countries, are experiencing negative natural population growth accompanied by ageing societies, which is caused by pro­cesses denoted as the Second Demographic Transition. In addition, being among the less wealthy members of the EU, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have seen significant emigration, amplifying the negative population trend. n Baltic states are perceived as a homogenous region within the EU, but the de­velopments of recent years and projections for the future point to diverse paths of development for Estonia vs. Latvia/Lithuania. Estonia has attained thin but positive immigration that is expected to continue in the coming years, while the populations of Latvia and Lithuania are expected to decrease as a result of net migration. Estonia’s population is projected to stay younger than Latvia’s and Lithuania’s, which are among the fastest ageing populations in Europe. n policies aimed at tackling demographic challenges are not restricted to fertility boosting instruments that are expensive and inefficient. Instead, other policy actions can be aimed at affecting migration, transforming the labour market and using speci­fic tools to mitigate or make use of migration. The labour market policies – increasing productivity and labour participation, and working beyond the current retirement age – are the most efficient and are achievable only in line with improving the population’s education and health. n Improving institutional quality- government trust, efficiency and transparency, legisla ­tion, the court system, protection of rights – is equally important, as these factors have proved to have an impact on migration and other areas where Lithuania and especially Latvia fall far behind Estonia and the EU.