FROM A RECEIVING TO A SENDING NATION: LATVIAS NEW ROLE IN THE EUROPEAN MIGRATION LANDSCAPE

Forty years after World War II, Latvia was an attractive receiving country for migrants from other regions of the USSR because of job opportunities and a higher standard of living. Migration changed the ethnic, gender and age structure of Latvia's population, as well as its economic profile. Since the mid-1990s, the direction of migration has changed from the post-Soviet space to the West. After Latvia joined the European Union and thus enjoyed the free movement of people, as well as access to the labour markets of several old EU member states, migration changed. Latvia, which used to be a receiving country for migrants, has become the sending country. This article describes how the policies of various political regimes have affected the migration pattern and direction as well recent migration flows in Latvia.