I have visited the 3 Baltic countries...My favourite is Lithuania, but that is only because I have been to Lithuania more often....Its wonderful to see huge progress since 1990...Much respect from the Republic of Ireland! 🇮🇪🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪👍🍻
My sincere wish and hope for Latvia to catch up with us as soon as possibke. My eternal love for our brothers and sisters Latvians, because mēs esam viena tauta - the phrase not needed a translation for both of our nations. 🇱🇹❤🇱🇻
I agree there is no need to fight. But I think comparing can be healthy sometimes- if you are doing it to learn from your neighbor how to improve things.
Lithuania is changing so fast! I spent a year in Vilnius between 2016 and 17, and every time I go back I find a different city almost. From my experience, Lithuanians are hard working and I especially noticed that they never get complacent, but always demand that things must improve. This mindset might be one of the reasons why the country is developing so fast. The generational gap between young people under 40 vs those who grew up in the USSR is also huge in many senses.
I support both Lithuania and Latvia from Poland. We have good historical and economical cooperation, and it's Poland that is the land connection for these countries to the rest of the EU. I'm honoured that Poland has such an important position and I hope that more political, military and economic cooperation can follow between our countries 🇱🇹🇱🇻🇵🇱
While Poland "is the land connection for these countries to the rest of the EU", Lithuania is "the land connection for Poland and the rest of the EU" with Latvia, Estonia - the Baltics and Finland. In a year, the motorway from Kaunas to Warszawa will be completed, the Rail Baltica will be in service in 5-8 years from now too. Kaunas is a growing city, awarded recently with UNESCO World heritage site status - more Poles should visit this city. There is also not only the New Town and the Old town, but Pažaislis monastery too, the zoo, many museums, lots of other attractions. Currently, Poles are helping in opening the Museum of Science of Lithuania - it will be half the size of Centrum Nauki Kopernik in Warszawa and is about to open in a month or so.
@arturas (broken UA-cam doesn't let me reply) I've lived in Kaunas twice, for a decade total, and I just don't like it and likely never will... 😌 Vilnius has some better feel to me, I've only lived there for 3.5 years, but it's where I would live... If I could afford a home there 😁
@@movement2contact You probably lived in Kaunas 10 or more years ago when it was shit. At the time the city had road potholes everywhere, every building was crambling, the population was on a decline for 20 years (down from 433k to 280k). Official city slogans were on transparants like "you are not German to be at your workplace on time", "one can somehow be alive in Kaunas", etc. and in Vilnius was a saying "as shit is not butter, Kaunas is not a city" or "a gas station between Vilnius and Klaipėda". These times are long gone. All the buildings except 2 or 3 abandoned are renewed in the Center. It means there are ca. 1000 renewed houses. The roads quality is perfect. The zoo that was excluded from the official Europe zoo lists because of its situation 15 years ago is perfectly restored. Pedestrian Laisvės avenue was reconstructed. Nepriklausomybės square was reconstructed and awarded the best modern square in Europe prize. The arena for basketball, the largest in the Baltics, was built. The largest stadium was built. Residents of Lithuania and Latvia go to the largest concerts there. The best in the Baltics rowing canal was built. The best swimming pool was built. The largest in the Baltics museum of science is about to open. Look at the new quarters like Piliamiestis, Nemunaičiai. And so on and on.
@@movement2contact Tai dabar gera padėtis, viską tvarko, miestas gražėja, gyventojų skaičius auga. Net du tiltus stato, tuoj statys trečią, Rotušės aikštės rekonstrukcija. Nauji troleibusai kai Vilnius važinėja su 1985 m. gamybos čekoslovakų Škodomis. Nedaug Kaunui teturėčiau priekaištų.
I'm guess, Latvians have BIGGER problem - much more Russians who "ponaehali"(=came) during Soviet times. Of course, not all, but many of them are "pulling back" to soviet times/Russia world.
8 can't actually confirm but I think outside of Narva,the Russians in the country integrate better in Estonia. I dont know why this isint the case for latvia.
this is just chauvinistic bs. lithuania also has poles who are as pro-russian as lithuanian russians. so maybe minorities being pro-russian just has to do with baltic countries not inegrating their minorities? and considering that, lithuania is still somehow better than latvia and estonia on this, atleast there's no segregation by passports in lithuania and there's no SS parades in lithuania. also soviet times and russian world are different things. ussr was better than modern russia.
@@jeanivanjohnson ussr was better? They were deporting people to siberia, m..ron 🤷 are you mumbling about baltic "chauvinism"? How these people should be integrated? They must want to do it themselves. If a russian refuses to learn latvian language, how can he be integrated? 🤦
Have to keep in mind that Latvias happiness indicator is moved back becouse of the 30% of russians that are living there, because they hate living in Latvia, they want to live in the soviet union, I as a Latvian can say that my life cant be more perfect than it is right now, and im not kidding
@@jeanivanjohnson, he said there's one kind of people that is always ready to hate Latvia just because it is not Russia or the ussr. This is not awesome for anyone, but it's the emotional choice of those people to be haters and always blame others.
@@jeanivanjohnson what an ignorant idiot you are. they're given the exact same rights as us but they refuse to integrate, they refuse to learn the national language, even though their families have been living here for multiple generations. ( wait until you find out how they got here ) they don't take care of their surroundings, meaning they actively produce trash and filth everywhere they go. they're generally disrespectful and cocky in public they have no manners, more than 80% of police calls are to solve some problem involving russians. all the horrible neighbors i've had were russians. not caring about their neighbors, being loud consuming alcohol and drugs. They also have this supreme pride in being russian, idolizing soviet era leaders, wearing ussr symbols, that keep in mind is a regime that tried to kill our national identity. should i continue ?
Lithuania generally has some advantages: 1. Geographic location: The Lithuania is the first (after Poland) on logistics routes from Europe to Latvia, Estonia, Finland (and some time ago to Belaruss-Russia). So Lithuania has grabbed logistics and warehouse hubs for all the reagion (because it could be expensiclve to transprotsncargo to Latvia, and to distribute ir then back to Lithuania). 2. Population: 3 mil population vs 1.8 in Latvia..so Lithuania anyway can produce larger GDP, nd has more labor force. And...this is connected to reason No3. 3. Population density: In lithuania polulation densitiy is more even. There are Vilnius and Kaunas in close range, Klaipeda, Saulai, etc - large cities all across the country, and dense net of towns and willages. So the people, labour force, business and money is moving more even. This develops all the country (not just one region). In Latvia there is Riga region with 1 million population, and then 3-4 cities more than 50k. It means other part of country is less habitet, so less workforce, less business, less money. The big gap between Riga and regions. 4. (... 🙄 Some will not like this): Lithuanians are more loyal to their country. In Lithuania there are 92% lithuanians. In Latvia thee are 62% Latvains. Last 35 yeaas this 30%-40% other part of society (mostly russians) lived in paralell world, with attitude that Latvia is not their country. They did not wanted to pay taxes, could not get good job (because of language), did not wanted to integrate and build the Latvia as their country. I personally know some russian people, who said "I wont pay taxes to government of Latvians", or "This is country of Latvians, with stupid latvian law” or ”Europe is bad, USSR whre cool, so I do not care...”. So generally Lithuanians work harder for their country and society, pay taxes more acurate. All these reasons in long term 20+ years has led to this situation, when Lithuania is a bit more advanced and more perpective. With love to braljukas 🤗
Agree. Only Riga region has around 850-900k population as it shrinks. This is also the reason - Latvia has the worst demographic situation in the Baltics - its population is getting smaller every year and the capital city has lost 300 000 inhabitants in 30 years. There are significantly more elderly people and much less young people in Riga than in Vilnius.
Anyone claiming that one Baltic country is better than the other is delusional. All the HDI, happiness, gdp ppp comparisons dont mean much difference for the quality of life in each country. Latvia is not inferior. Imay be delusional myself, but i refuse to find out if im wrong. Unity between us three all the way. I wish there were joint summer camps for children and adults to bond, establish connections, especially between LT and EE since we are sepparated. Latvia should be wary of russian influence. Since its located in the middle, it must be the prime target of disinformation and corruption. The simple solution is to be very demanding to government and the quality of its work.
Just come and see, you’ll be shocked. Latvia is like… well, Russia: wild road traffic, crashed fences and dirt (I remember cars in Daugavpils parking on grass next to block houses, just sad). Lithuania is also not rich, but it feels like Europe.
@ been in Latvia several times. Always felt like home with more benefits: more forests and more sea. Unassimilated russians are one minus. What really counts as a latvian problem - its driving culture. Latvians in via baltica tend to overtake even with incoming traffic. Almost died 4 times during a trip to Jurmala. Though lithuanians dont shine either, especially bmaucedes and skoda drivers. Anything else is a matter of perspective or an election away to be resolved. I hope i am right, i wish that i was.
you know what else is getting better? your video quality! the subjects you cover might not be popular as general entertainment content, but end up being very interesting even for someone who doesn't care in particular about these subjects, and the editing makes it a pleasant watch - didn't even feel like 18 minutes. I greatly admire your work and effort.
I think the main problem with Latvia is that it's basically one city state, Riga generate more than 50%of country's GDP, and if that city is on decline and not progressing or innovating econ/social wise - the whole country is.
Riga has lost 300 000 inhabitants in 30 years. On average, it loses 10 000 inhabitants yearly or 30 a day. On the contrary, Vilnius is larger than in 1991. Kaunas, Klaipėda lost 1/4-1/5 of their populations, but these cities are growing now and all the three cities in Lithuania are on average much younger. Because of this demographic situation in Riga, there are lots of elderly people and very few children, youth. It means, that in the future, Riga will be even smaller, while Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda will be larger after 10, 20 or 30 years. I guess in 2050 there will be more people in Tallinn and Kaunas than in Riga. So the lag of Latvia is programmed in its demographic situation.
Very true. Riga grew up more than Vilnius during Soviet times, and got a more developed transport network, including trams (which Vilnius never built for several unfortunate reasons) and an extensive commuter rail fueled by the local railway industry. Vilnius has recently tried to catch up with bigger, newer trolleybuses and the express bus lines, but it's still not enough because the road infrastructure doesn't have enough capacity. Hopefully, one day funds will be available to build a metro, but that's still too far away.
@@osasunaitor Riga grew even more than Vilnius during the Russian Empire. Before the tsar occupation, Vilnius was a larger or comparable city, and after that, it was even half the size of Riga.
I am very happy about the successes in Lithuania, but the real title of this video is Latvians Praise Lithuania. The whole video is based on the opinions of one politician, which undeniably contain a lot of truth. We all see the data, and I find it very difficult to understand his motivation-could he be preparing to run for the Lithuanian parliament? There are many things we can learn from Lithuanians, but it’s important to remember that you have one huge advantage: a significant ethnic majority. Because of this, all your internal disagreements work in Lithuania’s favor. Meanwhile, here, we also have additional conflicts with people who don’t even know which country they live in. They don’t leave but instead make life difficult for everyone else. Then, of course, there are the Mother Teresas who want to solve everything with empathy... In other words, I will always envy Lithuania for the fact that this issue affects only 5% of your population, and you don’t have to spend the first 20 minutes of every discussion arguing about which direction to take.
Hope both Lithuania and Latvia will keep rising and developing peacefully. I have been in Lithuania 2 years ago and Wilnus is awsome. Greetings from Poland.
For the last 20 years: Latvia was obsessing over it's language and how to assimilate it's minorities. Lithuania was meticulously looking for ways to get rich.
A provocative title, yes! But I can only hope that people watch the video long enough to realize it is about learning from neighbors and changing things for the better 😁
@@LithuaniaExplained Exactly! Lithuanians can also learn many things from Latvians and Estonians. I also love those two ministers discuss those topics so openly. It makes me feel much more connected to Lithuanian politics, it's more human. Great video, as always! :)
As mentioned here, other Baltic states have looked up to Estonia in some ways for a long time. I think it's time to change that, and we should look up to Lithuania instead. As mentioned, Lithuania used the recent crises to improve its economy, but Estonia has struggled to cope and is stagnating.
Nobody knows what will be in 10 years . In the late 90s or 2000s Latvia was doing better. Back then western media was joking that the Baltics was like Italy- north more developed than south (south would be Lithuania).
Dažnai važiuoju į Latviją pailsėti prie jūros. Dažnas atvejis kai nuvažiuoji į viešbutį, tai grynas sovietmetis. Daug kur pas juos trūksta lėšų atsinaujinimui. Love you braliukai!!!
Even though in the elections I directly voted for the party represented by Gatis Eglītis, but as a bank employee in Latvia, I do not agree what Gatis Eglītis said! At the beginning, some very different things about Latvia and Lithuania must be said. Lithuania's economy was more connected to Poland (the European Union), while one of Latvia's regions (Latgale) had placed almost its entire economic map on cooperation with Russia and Belarus. As a primitive example, I can mention - there are three cities in Latvia that have trams as public transport - Liepāja and Riga bought trams from European Union manufacturers, while Daugavpils bought them from Russia. After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, economic ties with Russia began to break - Latgale has not fully recovered from it even today (average unemployment is around 10%, but in some places even up to 15%), while unemployment in the rest of Latvia is relatively low at 4-6%. I would say that it is not Latvia that is the weakest part of the Baltics, but Latgale is the one that sinks the average statistics of Latvia, because, for example, around Riga the average GDP per capita is close to the level of South Korea, while Latgale is rather somewhere close to Moldova. Another important factor - the national composition - when IT companies started to flee from Belarus, Latvia specifically did everything so that these companies and people could not transfer their businesses to Latvia - such as the well-known video game company "Wargaming". The reason? In Latvia, the number of Russian-speaking persons is close to 24%, while in Lithuania it is approximately 5%. Another important factor - Latvia's financial system was too closely connected with Russia and Central Asia, which had severe consequences for the international reliability of Latvia's financial sector. Fortunately, this financial sector reform has now brought results. The fact that what Gatis Eglītis said is rather a philosophical statement, but contradicts the facts and figures. The same story is with Estonia - currently Estonia is experiencing very bad economic conditions, but it is not because Estonia is doing something wrong, but the problem came from the place where it was least expected - Finland! After the war started by Russia, one of Finland's biggest economic sectors (timber industry) has suffered badly, because together with Russia, it was one of the biggest pulp producers in the region, or even in Europe. Economic problems started in Estonia, as problems have arisen in Finland, as well as in the Swedish real estate market, and these two countries are one of the largest markets for Estonian processing products. There is also the Russian factor, because Estonia had some kind of economic cooperation with Russia before the invasion of Ukraine. What problems can be caused to the Lithuanian economy? Problems in Germany, because Lithuania's economy is more closely related to Germany than Latvia or Estonia.
Lithuania is not responsible for one of Latvian region living their own life disconnected from the whole country. That’s not making Latvia’s economy any better so why do you say Gatis Eglitis’ statement is wrong from numbers stand point? P.S. I don’t try to insult our brothers.
@@ZhylvisLT Gatis Eglītis highlights the wrong reasons. He rightly says that currently Lithuania is doing better than Latvia economically, but the reasons are different and not what Gatis Eglītis said.
Recently Lithuanian economists posted messages, that Kaunas region is richer than Riga region, Vilnius region is richer than Tallinn region and the median salaries in Šiauliai are higher than in Riga. So, anyway, Lithuania is doing much better than Latvia, be it with Latgale or without it. People in the 4th Lithuanian city of only 110k inhabitants in Lithuania are better off than people the capital city of Latvia. And the prices are much lower in Šiauliai than in Riga too, so you get the idea. There are thousands of Latvian workers in Lithuania, who come daily, including around 100 people who work in Visaginas, but live in Daugavpils. They say that the salary in Visaginas is 200-300 euros higher than in Daugavpils and they even get free breakfasts and dinners at the local factories. This means that Lithuanian province - a Russian town of Visaginas with only 20k inhabitants is doing much better than the 3rd Latvian city.
@@arturass3896 Might be - but as I said - around Rīga GDP per capita is near South Korea level. People leave Rīga - same as my family did and moved live 200km autside of Rīga. Daugavpils? Yeah - it is Latgale and as I said - they economy mainly where connected with Russia and a bit of Belarus and now they suffer because of the local authority and they stupidity. Compare to Ogre city where ''Fazer'' bakery invest a lot of money and there is also one of IT tech company HQ ''Mikrotik'' and how I know ''Fazer'' sold they assets in Estonia and Lithuania and also there are employees who left Lithuania and Estonia because of that and moved to live and work in Ogre city. Really good city is Valmiera, Liepāja and Ventspils for family and job opportunities!
I thought buying alcohol mostly went south? Finns buying in Estonia, Estonians buying in Latvia, Latvians buying in Lithuania, and Lithuanians buying in Poland?
@LithuaniaExplained nah bro - lithuanians mostly buy here in Latvia because lithuanians stopped selling alcohol weekdays after 8pm and weekends after 3pm but in Latvia - 8 - 22 every day. And Latvia is a bit cheaper.
@@MCEdziits Not so many people in Lithuania live close to the border with Latvia. Mažeikiai is the largest town with 30k population, but there is litteraly nothing on the Latvian side of the border, lol. Zarasai with 6k people, Skuodas with 5k inhabitants, Žagarė, Žeimelis, Nemunėlio Radviliškis towns with 1k population and a few more villages. :D
I know very well both countries. I was born in Belarus, but only 6 km away from Lithuania. These days, all my family live in Vilnius. I met my future ex husband in Minsk, while studying at a Uni. When we moved to his native Latvia, I was negatively impressed with the low level of life comparing to Belarus and Lithuania. Based on my personal experience, in Latvia people are less practical, work less, are not very proactive, like spending their money on impressing others around: clothes, restaurants, concerts, and then boasting to work colleagues and others (we lived in Latgale, I know that Riga was quite different). In Lithuania, all the people living there speak the national language and I never heard anybody saying that they hate Lithuanian, while in Latvia people really hate it, maybe because they do not have a chance of ever becoming its citizens, or maybe because they are simply ... how to say politely... with no reason feel their superiority to the country and its language. I personally really liked the language, and learned it on my own up to the highest level, but forgot it since I've been living in the UK for many years.
As a Latvian myself, I see that people here complain at each other too often than it's necessary. Some of them even dare to say such nonsense as, "no, I am right." And in Rīga, people tend to turn away from problems because if they mention them, then certain people "would not like it." This bizarre mentality is keeping us from developing, and I don't see it going away any time soon. Not to mention that we have Russians who want to work with Russia more than anyone else - this problem should be self-explanatory.
Yes, exactly 😉 but I think the term economics can drive people away (and makes the video title too long); and Mr Eglītis discusses some social and cultural differences too which I find quite interesting.
Love both countries. Difficult to choose if I decided to relocate to the Baltics. Personally it shouldn't be down to the economy alone. Latvian is slightly easier to learn than Lithuanian. The Latvian coastline is a lot longer. My preference is probably Latvia, I absolutely adore the flag ❤ and ice hockey.
Latvia has the most Russians of all the Baltic states. And the more Russia and Russians there are in a country, the worse it gets. I don't remember the exact formula, but that's how it works.
I’m an Indian! I’m planning to move to Lithuania by 2025 for my Masters. I’m concerned if the Russo-Ukrainian war would affect the EU or Lithuania in any means. Can you make a video about it? I have read Sweden and Germany are already preparing themselves for the war(might not be true. It’s based on what I read in news here). Can you make a video on how things are in Lithuania and how this war would affect Lithuania?
Many your countrymen live and study here, and they are doing fine.How war impacted us?Not so much, at first there was quite high inflation but now it's under control.About possible war here, so very unlikely.Lithuania is NATO and EU member, already German soldiers are stationed here in Lithuania.There are probably zero chances that Russia will be able to annex Ukraine, so would be very unwise from the Russian side to start a war with NATO invading Lithuania.
@@RZakelis Thank you for the reply! 😇 It really answered the questions I had in mind. I truly like the culture and atmosphere in Lithuania, and I’m so excited to move there! 😄
Sadly Latvia and Estonia had a legion during ww2, and ww2 had especially big toll on Latvia, it all started to go downhill from there. Before ww2 Latvia was ahead both in economy and production. It was predicted that Latvia's living standarts and economy would reach a really high place compared to many many other european nations (being far ahead of both other Baltic nations). Ofc history is history and we've had many years after the USSR occupation to rebuild ourselves and as the video focuses on modern Latvian decision making i completely agree that we should change our economy policy.
As someone living in Lithuanian maybe you can provide more perspective but it seems like the Rail Baltica project is really being held up at present by flip-flopping in the Latvian government. They only just decided on the plan to build the main rail line that wont even make it to Riga yet they have this massive construction project for the terminal in Riga that is seemingly a bit out of place. Maybe its recency bias but it seems like the missing middle (literally) is holding up that project significantly. Estonia plans to have the rail line operating to Parnu by 2028 but it isnt expected to connect to the latvian side for a while after that. I think that ties into point #4 about bureaucracy. Not saying by any measure that Rail Baltica is easy but the inability to create a plan and stick to it within Latvia seems a failure of consciousness of the government.
Also look at the integration of the electrical system with the EU. Lithuania has already tested their alignment and is ready. Latvia is no where ready (Is it still liked to Russia purchasing inexpensive Russian electricity?). Estonia is somewhere in between perhaps possibly being ready in 2025. If the Russian line were cut I don't know what Latvia would do. Perhaps suck some of the electricity coming to Estonia from Finland.
I’m actually not familiar with Latvia’s progress on Rail Baltica unfortunately. I’m still learning about Lithuania’s situation to be honest. If what you say is true, that is quite unfortunate!
There are relatively serious political opposition parties in Latvia that have already declared that if they succeed in getting into the government, they will stop the RailBaltica project at all! Elections in Latvia will be held in 2026.
Why we should build railway for Estonia and Lithuania to benefit, on our expenses. This entire project has been shit from very beginning and clearly decission made are not to benefit Latvia. It has been designed to be good for Lithuania and Estonia. And yes , why would we need this shit project now?
If Lithuania is so great , then why did all of its working population and youth move to the UK? Way more Lithuanians in the UK then Latvians. Lithuanians net migration is negative for every year. There was a small population boost because of Ukraine refugees, not because its youth is returning back.
I hate when comparing Latvia vs. Lithuania, I think we are almost the same. Take a ride on Via Baltica (E67 route) you barely see the difference. Downside Latvia has rougher outskirts, but this is probably mostly due geography. Lithuania wins having important transportation junctions. The outskirts of the country is not much better too, maybe population density helps a bit.
The problem with Latvia is that ruling party in the goverment, has created everyone included in the bureaucracy their main voting demography, so they just build this bureaucracy machine bigger and bigger every year
I agree on the point that historical background plays a role. And also the political system in Lithuania can taim the beurocracy. I was surprised when watching your video on electoral system of Lithuania.
Regarding aviation - yes, Latvia has Air Baltic, but Lithuania has much stronger aviation industry: more maintenance, design, production organizations. Two "aviation" universities, college. More private planes, airclubs, airfields, etc.
If you watch most of the video, the message is about how these countries and their governments can learn from one another to improve life for citizens. Hm…
This is especially funny to watch as a Latvian who learned yesterday that private persons income tax is budgeted to rise from 20 to 25% in 2025 in Latvia. We are fucked as a nation. More like horse asses... :D
One very important reason which they cannot talk about is demographics . Latvia unfortunately has a very large number of Russian and Russian speakers . This fractures Latvian society and negatively affects all fields of life .
Government is a big key. For a good government need a good activity for both countries to create a government. I'm sure that both governments still have very big gaps inside but on top of that in both countries need to improve an activities for rich and important in country personalities. Problem is that financial and talking about status at all persons are passive to make a changes and push all country forward. - if you are rich and have good status - keep quite, its not only you will stay safe but your status aswell. Thanks not for SSSR system only but for all practice around entire world. Even that I'm Lithuanian. I'm sure that Lithuania have more support from West, personally I cannot to say why exactly but sometimes it looks like it's a key for West to make easier control entire world. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm right. Latvians are more afraid I guess to make more steps, because we never know the steps from bigger countries. Even we all are EU and in NATO but... I know the thing- my father, grandfather and all previous generations was against occupation. And they f***ed future life of us but they never betrayed us. Simple explanation - we all want to live, we want to make good life for our kids and future generations. I'm an immigrant and I been in army after secondary school as a volunteer because at that time because it wasn't necessarily. And if will need to protect my country - Lithuania. Instead of that I prefer to take my family to calm peaceful place and live life. Politics sucks. Idiots controlling almost every country for I don't know what reason. Shame for war. Respect for people which just want to have warm home, nice beautiful kids and loving woman at home. Big respect for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania
Excellent video. I think that additional problem in Latvia, that was not mentioned, is oversaturates cultural sector. Latvia is know for having so many actors, athletes, models and musicians per capita. Sure its cool not to be dependent on American cultural influence, however our cultural and sports industry is mostly domestically consumed, therefor is not exporting anything and not bringing in any investments. We need to attract people to banking, IT and manufacturing sectors!
Too many Latvian musicians, actors? Are you sure? I thought russian and Western culture is dominating over Latvian in Latvia... Music, movies, TV, YT, medias are not local. Too many atlethes? But no single medal in Olympics😢 Maybe you know it better, i'm from Lithuania
@@kiauraskaminas8038 Top 3 most watched tv series are domesticaly made and most of top 10 too. House of the dragon takes 4th place. Riga has too many theaters subsidised by state funds. We have lots of athletes who cant get medals and get subsidised anyway. Yet we have critical lack of doctors teachers and qualified builders. Our banking sector is divided between SEB and SWEDBANK both of which are very passive creditors and Swedish. Our greatest export is 🥁 wood…
Ive been to Latvia several times as Lithuanian.. Honestly I was dissappointed because I really wanted to see Riga , visit Liepaja etc. I did all that and more, I visited Daugavpils, Rezekne etc. What all these places have in common? I felt like I was back in time 20 years. UNFORTUNATELY.
Around a half of Latvian GDP is created in Greater Riga (the city and its closest surroundings). Riga has lost 300 000 inhabitants in 30 years. On average, it loses 10 000 inhabitants yearly or 30 a day. On the contrary, Vilnius is larger than in 1991. Kaunas, Klaipėda lost 1/4-1/5 of their populations, but these cities are growing now and all the three cities in Lithuania are on average much younger. Because of this demographic situation in Riga, there are lots of elderly people and very few children, youth. It means, that in the future, Riga will be even smaller, while Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda will be larger after 10, 20 or 30 years. I guess in 2050 there will be more people in Tallinn and Kaunas than in Riga. So the lag of Latvia is programmed in its demographic situation.
Lithuanian youth have all moved to the UK, much more then people from Latvia and way way more then people from Estonia, the only reason there was any growth in the population of Lithuania is because of Ukraine refugees and some Belarus migrants…
😂🤣 Get yoyr facts straight. 🤦 All the municipalities in Lithuania have positive migration ratio during the last 5 years. 100 000 Lithuanian nationals more returned to Lithuania than left ir at the same period (the total majority - young people).
@@arturass3896 The net migration rate for Lithuania in 2023 was -5.269 per 1000 population, a 19.36% decline from 2022. The net migration rate for Lithuania in 2022 was -6.534 per 1000 population, a 16.22% decline from 2021. The net migration rate for Lithuania in 2021 was -7.799 per 1000 population, a 13.97% decline from 2020. The stats are negative each year, what kind of a growth are you talking about?
You are a liar, a Russian propagandist, probably. Please, use official government sources, statistical data of Lithuanian agencies, not your vodka-matryosha-balalaika solovyf-kiselyof "sources". 🤦
As of 1 January 2024, the resident population of Lithuania totalled 2 million 886.5 thousand, which is by 29 thousand (1 percent) more than a year ago, reports the State Data Agency.
Latvija sold everything inherited from soviets. French Germans Brits Americans came bought everything fixed, restarted production. And Latvians are left to work on this facilities for min. wage.
Both Lithuanian and Latvia are below the EU 100 with Estonia in the middle between us. I heard Estonia has so much of the government on-line and efficient. This is why Russia doesn't want you. The Baltics have nothing to offer. Seems a reason why their populations are shirking as the you college people head out to more prosperous EU countries like ireland.
:DDD I HOPE you are right and Ruzzia "doesn't want us". If you think that is an insult - you are truly insane. Also, the emigration numbers are falling for years now, get your facts straight.
Nonsense. Lithuania has been gaining population recently. And Russia does "want" them, not because they have better life quality (which they do), but because Putin wants to re-establish the old Russian Empire by subjugating all his neighbours.
@@Pepper98776 no, the population trend started to change around 2015, way before the Ukrainian refugees came. Net migration has been positive since 2019, with more people coming (mostly former Lithuanian emigrants who return) than leaving.
Hope at least someone from Latvian saeima will watch this so they get at least some ideas or right mindset to stop beeing fking greedy ,invest, improve, educate that and repeat
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Kiekviena Latvijos pergalė yra ir Lietuvos pergalė!
Aš pritariu tam ❤
I have visited the 3 Baltic countries...My favourite is Lithuania, but that is only because I have been to Lithuania more often....Its wonderful to see huge progress since 1990...Much respect from the Republic of Ireland! 🇮🇪🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪👍🍻
So did the progress Ireland. Hope Lithuania catch up Ireland.
My sincere wish and hope for Latvia to catch up with us as soon as possibke. My eternal love for our brothers and sisters Latvians, because mēs esam viena tauta - the phrase not needed a translation for both of our nations. 🇱🇹❤🇱🇻
Nē, mēs neesam nekāda viena tauta.
@@MrsUnderwriter mes esam baltai
@@MrsUnderwriter What have we done to upset you??
as a lithuanian latvia is our brothers and lets not fight ant compere each other
I agree there is no need to fight. But I think comparing can be healthy sometimes- if you are doing it to learn from your neighbor how to improve things.
The fact that you have a horsehead as your pfp makes this comment so much better 😂 (Lithuanians and Latvians will understand what I mean)
No, no let's compare each other, but also let's support each other as true brothers
as a Latvian i dont mind comparisons like this, or other. even if they are based or racism motivated we can learn and improve from them and do better.
@ysquartz2948 i just like horses but i know the thing you are saying
Lithuania is changing so fast! I spent a year in Vilnius between 2016 and 17, and every time I go back I find a different city almost.
From my experience, Lithuanians are hard working and I especially noticed that they never get complacent, but always demand that things must improve. This mindset might be one of the reasons why the country is developing so fast. The generational gap between young people under 40 vs those who grew up in the USSR is also huge in many senses.
I agree! I'm Lithuanian and I'm from Kaunas, but I live in the UK, when I go back to visit relatives, it changes so fast!
Same counts for Tallinn, Estonia. Crazy how fast the city develops. I love all the baltic states! Great proud people and beautiful countries!
Vilnius doesn't mean Lithuania.
@@AlgisJezukevičius-j3m I know Vilnius better, but I've seen similar trends all around the country.
@@AlgisJezukevičius-j3m Kaunas or Klaipėda are changing as fast. E.g. look at the most central part of Klaipėda. In a year it changed dramatically.
It's the russification that hit Latvia the hardest. Lithuania and Estonia needs to understand this.
??? it happened to estonia and lithuania too
@ “The hardest”
@@jk_surman ohhh thats what u meant
so? what it has to do with lithuania doing better than latvia?
I'm not sure - Estonia's share of Russian speaking population is similar to Latvia's.
I support both Lithuania and Latvia from Poland. We have good historical and economical cooperation, and it's Poland that is the land connection for these countries to the rest of the EU. I'm honoured that Poland has such an important position and I hope that more political, military and economic cooperation can follow between our countries 🇱🇹🇱🇻🇵🇱
While Poland "is the land connection for these countries to the rest of the EU", Lithuania is "the land connection for Poland and the rest of the EU" with Latvia, Estonia - the Baltics and Finland. In a year, the motorway from Kaunas to Warszawa will be completed, the Rail Baltica will be in service in 5-8 years from now too. Kaunas is a growing city, awarded recently with UNESCO World heritage site status - more Poles should visit this city. There is also not only the New Town and the Old town, but Pažaislis monastery too, the zoo, many museums, lots of other attractions. Currently, Poles are helping in opening the Museum of Science of Lithuania - it will be half the size of Centrum Nauki Kopernik in Warszawa and is about to open in a month or so.
@arturas (broken UA-cam doesn't let me reply) I've lived in Kaunas twice, for a decade total, and I just don't like it and likely never will... 😌
Vilnius has some better feel to me, I've only lived there for 3.5 years, but it's where I would live... If I could afford a home there 😁
@@movement2contact You probably lived in Kaunas 10 or more years ago when it was shit. At the time the city had road potholes everywhere, every building was crambling, the population was on a decline for 20 years (down from 433k to 280k). Official city slogans were on transparants like "you are not German to be at your workplace on time", "one can somehow be alive in Kaunas", etc. and in Vilnius was a saying "as shit is not butter, Kaunas is not a city" or "a gas station between Vilnius and Klaipėda".
These times are long gone. All the buildings except 2 or 3 abandoned are renewed in the Center. It means there are ca. 1000 renewed houses. The roads quality is perfect. The zoo that was excluded from the official Europe zoo lists because of its situation 15 years ago is perfectly restored. Pedestrian Laisvės avenue was reconstructed. Nepriklausomybės square was reconstructed and awarded the best modern square in Europe prize. The arena for basketball, the largest in the Baltics, was built. The largest stadium was built. Residents of Lithuania and Latvia go to the largest concerts there. The best in the Baltics rowing canal was built. The best swimming pool was built. The largest in the Baltics museum of science is about to open. Look at the new quarters like Piliamiestis, Nemunaičiai. And so on and on.
Aš dabar čia ir gyvenu 3 metus.... Prieš tai 7 2001-2008.
@@movement2contact Tai dabar gera padėtis, viską tvarko, miestas gražėja, gyventojų skaičius auga. Net du tiltus stato, tuoj statys trečią, Rotušės aikštės rekonstrukcija. Nauji troleibusai kai Vilnius važinėja su 1985 m. gamybos čekoslovakų Škodomis. Nedaug Kaunui teturėčiau priekaištų.
I'm guess, Latvians have BIGGER problem - much more Russians who "ponaehali"(=came) during Soviet times. Of course, not all, but many of them are "pulling back" to soviet times/Russia world.
Estonia also has this problem, but they have managed to grow in spite of that. So there must be other reasons...
I would like to aggre with you but, estonia has about the same percentage of russians and yet there the most succesful economy
8 can't actually confirm but I think outside of Narva,the Russians in the country integrate better in Estonia. I dont know why this isint the case for latvia.
this is just chauvinistic bs. lithuania also has poles who are as pro-russian as lithuanian russians. so maybe minorities being pro-russian just has to do with baltic countries not inegrating their minorities? and considering that, lithuania is still somehow better than latvia and estonia on this, atleast there's no segregation by passports in lithuania and there's no SS parades in lithuania. also soviet times and russian world are different things. ussr was better than modern russia.
@@jeanivanjohnson ussr was better? They were deporting people to siberia, m..ron 🤷 are you mumbling about baltic "chauvinism"? How these people should be integrated? They must want to do it themselves. If a russian refuses to learn latvian language, how can he be integrated? 🤦
Have to keep in mind that Latvias happiness indicator is moved back becouse of the 30% of russians that are living there, because they hate living in Latvia, they want to live in the soviet union, I as a Latvian can say that my life cant be more perfect than it is right now, and im not kidding
That is awesome to hear! I enjoyed my visits to Riga and Liepaja ☺️
@@LithuaniaExplained yes, so awesome to hear that one kind of people living latvia deserves more than other kind of people living in latvia
@@jeanivanjohnson, he said there's one kind of people that is always ready to hate Latvia just because it is not Russia or the ussr. This is not awesome for anyone, but it's the emotional choice of those people to be haters and always blame others.
@@jeanivanjohnson what an ignorant idiot you are. they're given the exact same rights as us but they refuse to integrate, they refuse to learn the national language, even though their families have been living here for multiple generations. ( wait until you find out how they got here ) they don't take care of their surroundings, meaning they actively produce trash and filth everywhere they go. they're generally disrespectful and cocky in public they have no manners, more than 80% of police calls are to solve some problem involving russians. all the horrible neighbors i've had were russians. not caring about their neighbors, being loud consuming alcohol and drugs. They also have this supreme pride in being russian, idolizing soviet era leaders, wearing ussr symbols, that keep in mind is a regime that tried to kill our national identity. should i continue ?
Exactly. Estonia and Lithuania got their shit together long ago, but Latvia is still blaming russians :D :D
Lithuania generally has some advantages:
1. Geographic location: The Lithuania is the first (after Poland) on logistics routes from Europe to Latvia, Estonia, Finland (and some time ago to Belaruss-Russia). So Lithuania has grabbed logistics and warehouse hubs for all the reagion (because it could be expensiclve to transprotsncargo to Latvia, and to distribute ir then back to Lithuania).
2. Population: 3 mil population vs 1.8 in Latvia..so Lithuania anyway can produce larger GDP, nd has more labor force. And...this is connected to reason No3.
3. Population density: In lithuania polulation densitiy is more even. There are Vilnius and Kaunas in close range, Klaipeda, Saulai, etc - large cities all across the country, and dense net of towns and willages. So the people, labour force, business and money is moving more even. This develops all the country (not just one region). In Latvia there is Riga region with 1 million population, and then 3-4 cities more than 50k. It means other part of country is less habitet, so less workforce, less business, less money. The big gap between Riga and regions.
4. (... 🙄 Some will not like this): Lithuanians are more loyal to their country. In Lithuania there are 92% lithuanians. In Latvia thee are 62% Latvains. Last 35 yeaas this 30%-40% other part of society (mostly russians) lived in paralell world, with attitude that Latvia is not their country. They did not wanted to pay taxes, could not get good job (because of language), did not wanted to integrate and build the Latvia as their country. I personally know some russian people, who said "I wont pay taxes to government of Latvians", or "This is country of Latvians, with stupid latvian law” or ”Europe is bad, USSR whre cool, so I do not care...”. So generally Lithuanians work harder for their country and society, pay taxes more acurate.
All these reasons in long term 20+ years has led to this situation, when Lithuania is a bit more advanced and more perpective.
With love to braljukas 🤗
Agree. Only Riga region has around 850-900k population as it shrinks. This is also the reason - Latvia has the worst demographic situation in the Baltics - its population is getting smaller every year and the capital city has lost 300 000 inhabitants in 30 years. There are significantly more elderly people and much less young people in Riga than in Vilnius.
Anyone claiming that one Baltic country is better than the other is delusional. All the HDI, happiness, gdp ppp comparisons dont mean much difference for the quality of life in each country. Latvia is not inferior.
Imay be delusional myself, but i refuse to find out if im wrong.
Unity between us three all the way. I wish there were joint summer camps for children and adults to bond, establish connections, especially between LT and EE since we are sepparated.
Latvia should be wary of russian influence. Since its located in the middle, it must be the prime target of disinformation and corruption. The simple solution is to be very demanding to government and the quality of its work.
yes let's do some music festival somwhere in a midle of all baltic bands!
Love and respect to Latvia and Estonia!
Just come and see, you’ll be shocked. Latvia is like… well, Russia: wild road traffic, crashed fences and dirt (I remember cars in Daugavpils parking on grass next to block houses, just sad). Lithuania is also not rich, but it feels like Europe.
@ been in Latvia several times. Always felt like home with more benefits: more forests and more sea. Unassimilated russians are one minus. What really counts as a latvian problem - its driving culture. Latvians in via baltica tend to overtake even with incoming traffic. Almost died 4 times during a trip to Jurmala. Though lithuanians dont shine either, especially bmaucedes and skoda drivers. Anything else is a matter of perspective or an election away to be resolved. I hope i am right, i wish that i was.
@@IgorPellinen Daugavpils is not the best example of Latvia...
you know what else is getting better? your video quality! the subjects you cover might not be popular as general entertainment content, but end up being very interesting even for someone who doesn't care in particular about these subjects, and the editing makes it a pleasant watch - didn't even feel like 18 minutes. I greatly admire your work and effort.
Wow, thank you so much for your words of encouragement! 🙏
I completely agree
SVEIKI VISI 🇱🇻 ✔🇱🇹
Broluke, 🇱🇻🇪🇪🇱🇹, baltic sisters
Before WW2 Latvia was even slightly richer than Finland...
before ww1 no latvia
@@w3xyz if there was no rraZZshia, there would be latvia long before that
@@w3xyz ??
"i Ryga, i Ryga, i saldainiu fabrika" - it's some inter-war time lithuanian gastarbeiters song 😃
Yup, we did have s higher GDP than Finland in the 1930's
These are great points. Baltic rivalry is a healthy thing and it will help us the Baltic countries move forward faster
I think the main problem with Latvia is that it's basically one city state, Riga generate more than 50%of country's GDP, and if that city is on decline and not progressing or innovating econ/social wise - the whole country is.
Riga has lost 300 000 inhabitants in 30 years. On average, it loses 10 000 inhabitants yearly or 30 a day. On the contrary, Vilnius is larger than in 1991. Kaunas, Klaipėda lost 1/4-1/5 of their populations, but these cities are growing now and all the three cities in Lithuania are on average much younger. Because of this demographic situation in Riga, there are lots of elderly people and very few children, youth. It means, that in the future, Riga will be even smaller, while Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda will be larger after 10, 20 or 30 years. I guess in 2050 there will be more people in Tallinn and Kaunas than in Riga. So the lag of Latvia is programmed in its demographic situation.
Riga has better public transit than Vilnius, as well as extensive suburban railway network 👍
yeeep. I envy it in Vilnius
Very true. Riga grew up more than Vilnius during Soviet times, and got a more developed transport network, including trams (which Vilnius never built for several unfortunate reasons) and an extensive commuter rail fueled by the local railway industry. Vilnius has recently tried to catch up with bigger, newer trolleybuses and the express bus lines, but it's still not enough because the road infrastructure doesn't have enough capacity. Hopefully, one day funds will be available to build a metro, but that's still too far away.
My experience of the Riga tram system was very good! Vilnius should definitely be following Riga in this field.
@@LithuaniaExplainedTrue.
@@osasunaitor Riga grew even more than Vilnius during the Russian Empire. Before the tsar occupation, Vilnius was a larger or comparable city, and after that, it was even half the size of Riga.
Thank you for making this video, as a Latvian, I have been wondering about this exact question for half my life. Paldies!
I am very happy about the successes in Lithuania, but the real title of this video is Latvians Praise Lithuania. The whole video is based on the opinions of one politician, which undeniably contain a lot of truth. We all see the data, and I find it very difficult to understand his motivation-could he be preparing to run for the Lithuanian parliament?
There are many things we can learn from Lithuanians, but it’s important to remember that you have one huge advantage: a significant ethnic majority. Because of this, all your internal disagreements work in Lithuania’s favor. Meanwhile, here, we also have additional conflicts with people who don’t even know which country they live in. They don’t leave but instead make life difficult for everyone else. Then, of course, there are the Mother Teresas who want to solve everything with empathy...
In other words, I will always envy Lithuania for the fact that this issue affects only 5% of your population, and you don’t have to spend the first 20 minutes of every discussion arguing about which direction to take.
Do you think this "advantage" was some sort of a gift, given to Lithuanians or somehow Lithuanians themselves created this?
Hope both Lithuania and Latvia will keep rising and developing peacefully. I have been in Lithuania 2 years ago and Wilnus is awsome. Greetings from Poland.
Vilnius*
For the last 20 years: Latvia was obsessing over it's language and how to assimilate it's minorities. Lithuania was meticulously looking for ways to get rich.
An 18-minute video with a provocative title aimed at our dear Latvians? Am I dreaming?
A provocative title, yes! But I can only hope that people watch the video long enough to realize it is about learning from neighbors and changing things for the better 😁
@@LithuaniaExplained Exactly! Lithuanians can also learn many things from Latvians and Estonians. I also love those two ministers discuss those topics so openly. It makes me feel much more connected to Lithuanian politics, it's more human. Great video, as always! :)
As mentioned here, other Baltic states have looked up to Estonia in some ways for a long time. I think it's time to change that, and we should look up to Lithuania instead. As mentioned, Lithuania used the recent crises to improve its economy, but Estonia has struggled to cope and is stagnating.
Nobody knows what will be in 10 years . In the late 90s or 2000s Latvia was doing better. Back then western media was joking that the Baltics was like Italy- north more developed than south (south would be Lithuania).
Dažnai važiuoju į Latviją pailsėti prie jūros. Dažnas atvejis kai nuvažiuoji į viešbutį, tai grynas sovietmetis. Daug kur pas juos trūksta lėšų atsinaujinimui. Love you braliukai!!!
Lmao, you have a bigger issue with that
@@Pepper98776As a Lithuanian who's been to Latvia numerous times I can tell you we have it so much better than Latvians regarding this.
@@Janzius1 daznas atvejis ir pas mus. Ir neretai pasitaiko “moderniu” is isores, bet sovietiniu is vidaus.
@@mignas visad kai noriu prisimint vaikystę, važiuoju į Jurmala :D
Even though in the elections I directly voted for the party represented by Gatis Eglītis, but as a bank employee in Latvia, I do not agree what Gatis Eglītis said! At the beginning, some very different things about Latvia and Lithuania must be said. Lithuania's economy was more connected to Poland (the European Union), while one of Latvia's regions (Latgale) had placed almost its entire economic map on cooperation with Russia and Belarus. As a primitive example, I can mention - there are three cities in Latvia that have trams as public transport - Liepāja and Riga bought trams from European Union manufacturers, while Daugavpils bought them from Russia. After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, economic ties with Russia began to break - Latgale has not fully recovered from it even today (average unemployment is around 10%, but in some places even up to 15%), while unemployment in the rest of Latvia is relatively low at 4-6%. I would say that it is not Latvia that is the weakest part of the Baltics, but Latgale is the one that sinks the average statistics of Latvia, because, for example, around Riga the average GDP per capita is close to the level of South Korea, while Latgale is rather somewhere close to Moldova. Another important factor - the national composition - when IT companies started to flee from Belarus, Latvia specifically did everything so that these companies and people could not transfer their businesses to Latvia - such as the well-known video game company "Wargaming". The reason? In Latvia, the number of Russian-speaking persons is close to 24%, while in Lithuania it is approximately 5%. Another important factor - Latvia's financial system was too closely connected with Russia and Central Asia, which had severe consequences for the international reliability of Latvia's financial sector. Fortunately, this financial sector reform has now brought results.
The fact that what Gatis Eglītis said is rather a philosophical statement, but contradicts the facts and figures. The same story is with Estonia - currently Estonia is experiencing very bad economic conditions, but it is not because Estonia is doing something wrong, but the problem came from the place where it was least expected - Finland! After the war started by Russia, one of Finland's biggest economic sectors (timber industry) has suffered badly, because together with Russia, it was one of the biggest pulp producers in the region, or even in Europe. Economic problems started in Estonia, as problems have arisen in Finland, as well as in the Swedish real estate market, and these two countries are one of the largest markets for Estonian processing products. There is also the Russian factor, because Estonia had some kind of economic cooperation with Russia before the invasion of Ukraine. What problems can be caused to the Lithuanian economy? Problems in Germany, because Lithuania's economy is more closely related to Germany than Latvia or Estonia.
Very interesting, thank you for taking the time to explain your perspective!
Lithuania is not responsible for one of Latvian region living their own life disconnected from the whole country. That’s not making Latvia’s economy any better so why do you say Gatis Eglitis’ statement is wrong from numbers stand point?
P.S. I don’t try to insult our brothers.
@@ZhylvisLT Gatis Eglītis highlights the wrong reasons. He rightly says that currently Lithuania is doing better than Latvia economically, but the reasons are different and not what Gatis Eglītis said.
Recently Lithuanian economists posted messages, that Kaunas region is richer than Riga region, Vilnius region is richer than Tallinn region and the median salaries in Šiauliai are higher than in Riga. So, anyway, Lithuania is doing much better than Latvia, be it with Latgale or without it. People in the 4th Lithuanian city of only 110k inhabitants in Lithuania are better off than people the capital city of Latvia. And the prices are much lower in Šiauliai than in Riga too, so you get the idea.
There are thousands of Latvian workers in Lithuania, who come daily, including around 100 people who work in Visaginas, but live in Daugavpils. They say that the salary in Visaginas is 200-300 euros higher than in Daugavpils and they even get free breakfasts and dinners at the local factories. This means that Lithuanian province - a Russian town of Visaginas with only 20k inhabitants is doing much better than the 3rd Latvian city.
@@arturass3896 Might be - but as I said - around Rīga GDP per capita is near South Korea level. People leave Rīga - same as my family did and moved live 200km autside of Rīga. Daugavpils? Yeah - it is Latgale and as I said - they economy mainly where connected with Russia and a bit of Belarus and now they suffer because of the local authority and they stupidity. Compare to Ogre city where ''Fazer'' bakery invest a lot of money and there is also one of IT tech company HQ ''Mikrotik'' and how I know ''Fazer'' sold they assets in Estonia and Lithuania and also there are employees who left Lithuania and Estonia because of that and moved to live and work in Ogre city. Really good city is Valmiera, Liepāja and Ventspils for family and job opportunities!
Latvians go to Lithuania to buy fuel and groceries. Lithuanians go to Latvia to buy alcohol. We are perfectly balanced. :D
I thought buying alcohol mostly went south? Finns buying in Estonia, Estonians buying in Latvia, Latvians buying in Lithuania, and Lithuanians buying in Poland?
@LithuaniaExplained nah bro - lithuanians mostly buy here in Latvia because lithuanians stopped selling alcohol weekdays after 8pm and weekends after 3pm but in Latvia - 8 - 22 every day. And Latvia is a bit cheaper.
@@MCEdziits I doubt any Lithuanians going to Latvia to buy booze. We have Poland for this.
@@arturass3896 not everbody lol. But only those who life close to Latvia - Lithuania border.
@@MCEdziits Not so many people in Lithuania live close to the border with Latvia.
Mažeikiai is the largest town with 30k population, but there is litteraly nothing on the Latvian side of the border, lol.
Zarasai with 6k people, Skuodas with 5k inhabitants, Žagarė, Žeimelis, Nemunėlio Radviliškis towns with 1k population and a few more villages. :D
I know very well both countries. I was born in Belarus, but only 6 km away from Lithuania. These days, all my family live in Vilnius. I met my future ex husband in Minsk, while studying at a Uni. When we moved to his native Latvia, I was negatively impressed with the low level of life comparing to Belarus and Lithuania. Based on my personal experience, in Latvia people are less practical, work less, are not very proactive, like spending their money on impressing others around: clothes, restaurants, concerts, and then boasting to work colleagues and others (we lived in Latgale, I know that Riga was quite different).
In Lithuania, all the people living there speak the national language and I never heard anybody saying that they hate Lithuanian, while in Latvia people really hate it, maybe because they do not have a chance of ever becoming its citizens, or maybe because they are simply ... how to say politely... with no reason feel their superiority to the country and its language. I personally really liked the language, and learned it on my own up to the highest level, but forgot it since I've been living in the UK for many years.
As a Latvian myself, I see that people here complain at each other too often than it's necessary. Some of them even dare to say such nonsense as, "no, I am right." And in Rīga, people tend to turn away from problems because if they mention them, then certain people "would not like it."
This bizarre mentality is keeping us from developing, and I don't see it going away any time soon. Not to mention that we have Russians who want to work with Russia more than anyone else - this problem should be self-explanatory.
😢
I’m an American living in Riga. I completely agree with all five points raised here.
oh so you mean... "Why is lithuania economically stronger than latvia?" Nice video!
Yes, exactly 😉 but I think the term economics can drive people away (and makes the video title too long); and Mr Eglītis discusses some social and cultural differences too which I find quite interesting.
We love our braliukas, and we care about them successes. I wish them to do very well as long as we help each other, it is fine ❤😘
😂😂😂 help each other sure. Your companies like Maxima are happiily ripping off Latvians
Well done video!
Love both countries. Difficult to choose if I decided to relocate to the Baltics. Personally it shouldn't be down to the economy alone. Latvian is slightly easier to learn than Lithuanian. The Latvian coastline is a lot longer. My preference is probably Latvia, I absolutely adore the flag ❤ and ice hockey.
I would guess its only cause we have less russians proportionally, true Latvian and Lithuanian is an equal human being
Latvia has the most Russians of all the Baltic states. And the more Russia and Russians there are in a country, the worse it gets. I don't remember the exact formula, but that's how it works.
Latvia is doing worse because latvia got more russians
We lithuanians sure are very ambitious 🇱🇹 🇱🇻🇪🇪🇱🇹
I am simple lithuanian i see Latvia in a video i press like
It is offensive for lithuanians and latvians, never ever compaire us like that.
Why is Lithuania DOING better than Latvia. OK?
Good idea! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that 🙈
@@LithuaniaExplainedC'mon now, don't pretend you didn't know exactly what you were doing with that title...
I live in Vilnius, but as a city I like Riga more. I believe Latvia has insane potential for growth if it's managed well.
I’m an Indian! I’m planning to move to Lithuania by 2025 for my Masters. I’m concerned if the Russo-Ukrainian war would affect the EU or Lithuania in any means. Can you make a video about it? I have read Sweden and Germany are already preparing themselves for the war(might not be true. It’s based on what I read in news here). Can you make a video on how things are in Lithuania and how this war would affect Lithuania?
if u dont have balls, dont come ;)
Many your countrymen live and study here, and they are doing fine.How war impacted us?Not so much, at first there was quite high inflation but now it's under control.About possible war here, so very unlikely.Lithuania is NATO and EU member, already German soldiers are stationed here in Lithuania.There are probably zero chances that Russia will be able to annex Ukraine, so would be very unwise from the Russian side to start a war with NATO invading Lithuania.
@@RZakelis Thank you for the reply! 😇 It really answered the questions I had in mind. I truly like the culture and atmosphere in Lithuania, and I’m so excited to move there! 😄
@@chandrus03 Just don't forget to bring warm clothing here, winters are pretty harsh here :)
@@RZakelis sure :) i will come prepared for the winter ❄️
Sadly Latvia and Estonia had a legion during ww2, and ww2 had especially big toll on Latvia, it all started to go downhill from there. Before ww2 Latvia was ahead both in economy and production. It was predicted that Latvia's living standarts and economy would reach a really high place compared to many many other european nations (being far ahead of both other Baltic nations). Ofc history is history and we've had many years after the USSR occupation to rebuild ourselves and as the video focuses on modern Latvian decision making i completely agree that we should change our economy policy.
As someone living in Lithuanian maybe you can provide more perspective but it seems like the Rail Baltica project is really being held up at present by flip-flopping in the Latvian government. They only just decided on the plan to build the main rail line that wont even make it to Riga yet they have this massive construction project for the terminal in Riga that is seemingly a bit out of place. Maybe its recency bias but it seems like the missing middle (literally) is holding up that project significantly. Estonia plans to have the rail line operating to Parnu by 2028 but it isnt expected to connect to the latvian side for a while after that. I think that ties into point #4 about bureaucracy. Not saying by any measure that Rail Baltica is easy but the inability to create a plan and stick to it within Latvia seems a failure of consciousness of the government.
Also look at the integration of the electrical system with the EU. Lithuania has already tested their alignment and is ready. Latvia is no where ready (Is it still liked to Russia purchasing inexpensive Russian electricity?). Estonia is somewhere in between perhaps possibly being ready in 2025. If the Russian line were cut I don't know what Latvia would do. Perhaps suck some of the electricity coming to Estonia from Finland.
I’m actually not familiar with Latvia’s progress on Rail Baltica unfortunately. I’m still learning about Lithuania’s situation to be honest. If what you say is true, that is quite unfortunate!
damn corruption everybody wants a peace of a pie what a shame on us
There are relatively serious political opposition parties in Latvia that have already declared that if they succeed in getting into the government, they will stop the RailBaltica project at all! Elections in Latvia will be held in 2026.
Why we should build railway for Estonia and Lithuania to benefit, on our expenses.
This entire project has been shit from very beginning and clearly decission made are not to benefit Latvia. It has been designed to be good for Lithuania and Estonia. And yes , why would we need this shit project now?
Thanks for the great video!!
Latvija yra Braliukas. This is it
If Lithuania is so great , then why did all of its working population and youth move to the UK? Way more Lithuanians in the UK then Latvians. Lithuanians net migration is negative for every year. There was a small population boost because of Ukraine refugees, not because its youth is returning back.
I hate when comparing Latvia vs. Lithuania, I think we are almost the same. Take a ride on Via Baltica (E67 route) you barely see the difference. Downside Latvia has rougher outskirts, but this is probably mostly due geography. Lithuania wins having important transportation junctions. The outskirts of the country is not much better too, maybe population density helps a bit.
The problem with Latvia is that ruling party in the goverment, has created everyone included in the bureaucracy their main voting demography, so they just build this bureaucracy machine bigger and bigger every year
I agree on the point that historical background plays a role. And also the political system in Lithuania can taim the beurocracy. I was surprised when watching your video on electoral system of Lithuania.
The Kaunas EPZ is really taking shape and pleasant to see and business cultural is something to be inspired with especially the youth!!!🇱🇹
🥳
Lithuania bigest in baltics and strongest 💪🇱🇹😎 we have am 25.000 active solders 😂 we can control the latvia and estonia 💪🇱🇹
Regarding aviation - yes, Latvia has Air Baltic, but Lithuania has much stronger aviation industry: more maintenance, design, production organizations. Two "aviation" universities, college. More private planes, airclubs, airfields, etc.
awesome vid😃👌💪👏👏👏please do more😁Ačiū
Dont worry brālukas we will always love you 🇱🇹❤️🇱🇻
Better-worse? Strange criteria. Who cares? If you could compare safety, corruption level and general culture... hm...
If you watch most of the video, the message is about how these countries and their governments can learn from one another to improve life for citizens. Hm…
The quality of politics in the baltics is so refreshing compared to Poland.
Lithuanians lost Teltonika's new plants because of bureaucracy. They still need to improve.
I love my braliukas and we will grown together!
This is especially funny to watch as a Latvian who learned yesterday that private persons income tax is budgeted to rise from 20 to 25% in 2025 in Latvia. We are fucked as a nation.
More like horse asses... :D
😢
If Lithuania is doing so much better why do they spend less of their GDP on NATO defense at 285%, to Latvia's 315%?
I was wondering what was the reason for this. Eglīte is a politician, though. So caution is needed.
One very important reason which they cannot talk about is demographics .
Latvia unfortunately has a very large number of Russian and Russian speakers . This fractures Latvian society and negatively affects all fields of life .
We must invest more into our militaries!
Government is a big key. For a good government need a good activity for both countries to create a government. I'm sure that both governments still have very big gaps inside but on top of that in both countries need to improve an activities for rich and important in country personalities. Problem is that financial and talking about status at all persons are passive to make a changes and push all country forward. - if you are rich and have good status - keep quite, its not only you will stay safe but your status aswell. Thanks not for SSSR system only but for all practice around entire world. Even that I'm Lithuanian. I'm sure that Lithuania have more support from West, personally I cannot to say why exactly but sometimes it looks like it's a key for West to make easier control entire world. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm right. Latvians are more afraid I guess to make more steps, because we never know the steps from bigger countries. Even we all are EU and in NATO but... I know the thing- my father, grandfather and all previous generations was against occupation. And they f***ed future life of us but they never betrayed us. Simple explanation - we all want to live, we want to make good life for our kids and future generations. I'm an immigrant and I been in army after secondary school as a volunteer because at that time because it wasn't necessarily. And if will need to protect my country - Lithuania. Instead of that I prefer to take my family to calm peaceful place and live life. Politics sucks. Idiots controlling almost every country for I don't know what reason. Shame for war. Respect for people which just want to have warm home, nice beautiful kids and loving woman at home. Big respect for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania
Latvia < Lithuania = Estonia
Better, worse. Potato potahto. Its all fun and games until Estonia shows up.
Lithuania has big whales Thermo Fisher Baltic , Aviasolutions Group, Girteka which helped to surpass Belarus in GDP being much smaller country
as a latvian, i think we know that you guys are doing better. Here in latvia we have a very stupid government
Lithuania 🫡
Gatis eglitis not a minister in actual time in Latvia.
Under 10 Min!
cause they got less russians
maybe cause they got the pope on their side
oh man
because we bigthuania!!!!
a bit uncalled for huh
Excellent video. I think that additional problem in Latvia, that was not mentioned, is oversaturates cultural sector. Latvia is know for having so many actors, athletes, models and musicians per capita. Sure its cool not to be dependent on American cultural influence, however our cultural and sports industry is mostly domestically consumed, therefor is not exporting anything and not bringing in any investments. We need to attract people to banking, IT and manufacturing sectors!
Too many Latvian musicians, actors? Are you sure? I thought russian and Western culture is dominating over Latvian in Latvia... Music, movies, TV, YT, medias are not local. Too many atlethes? But no single medal in Olympics😢 Maybe you know it better, i'm from Lithuania
@@kiauraskaminas8038 Top 3 most watched tv series are domesticaly made and most of top 10 too. House of the dragon takes 4th place. Riga has too many theaters subsidised by state funds. We have lots of athletes who cant get medals and get subsidised anyway. Yet we have critical lack of doctors teachers and qualified builders. Our banking sector is divided between SEB and SWEDBANK both of which are very passive creditors and Swedish. Our greatest export is 🥁 wood…
😂😂😂
@@kiauraskaminas8038 educate yourself better. Latvia has Olympic medaks, dear
Yeah, but their birth rate is in freefall.
Ive been to Latvia several times as Lithuanian.. Honestly I was dissappointed because I really wanted to see Riga , visit Liepaja etc. I did all that and more, I visited Daugavpils, Rezekne etc. What all these places have in common? I felt like I was back in time 20 years. UNFORTUNATELY.
Around a half of Latvian GDP is created in Greater Riga (the city and its closest surroundings). Riga has lost 300 000 inhabitants in 30 years. On average, it loses 10 000 inhabitants yearly or 30 a day. On the contrary, Vilnius is larger than in 1991. Kaunas, Klaipėda lost 1/4-1/5 of their populations, but these cities are growing now and all the three cities in Lithuania are on average much younger. Because of this demographic situation in Riga, there are lots of elderly people and very few children, youth. It means, that in the future, Riga will be even smaller, while Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda will be larger after 10, 20 or 30 years. I guess in 2050 there will be more people in Tallinn and Kaunas than in Riga. So the lag of Latvia is programmed in its demographic situation.
Lithuanian youth have all moved to the UK, much more then people from Latvia and way way more then people from Estonia, the only reason there was any growth in the population of Lithuania is because of Ukraine refugees and some Belarus migrants…
😂🤣 Get yoyr facts straight. 🤦 All the municipalities in Lithuania have positive migration ratio during the last 5 years. 100 000 Lithuanian nationals more returned to Lithuania than left ir at the same period (the total majority - young people).
@@arturass3896 The net migration rate for Lithuania in 2023 was -5.269 per 1000 population, a 19.36% decline from 2022. The net migration rate for Lithuania in 2022 was -6.534 per 1000 population, a 16.22% decline from 2021. The net migration rate for Lithuania in 2021 was -7.799 per 1000 population, a 13.97% decline from 2020. The stats are negative each year, what kind of a growth are you talking about?
You are a liar, a Russian propagandist, probably.
Please, use official government sources, statistical data of Lithuanian agencies, not your vodka-matryosha-balalaika solovyf-kiselyof "sources". 🤦
As of 1 January 2024, the resident population of Lithuania totalled 2 million 886.5 thousand, which is by 29 thousand (1 percent) more than a year ago, reports the State Data Agency.
Latvija sold everything inherited from soviets. French Germans Brits Americans came bought everything fixed, restarted production. And Latvians are left to work on this facilities for min. wage.
Latvijoje keliai jau geresni nei Lietuvoje
why? less russians here
It is not doing better, really.
estonia is superior
you guys can chill down there and fight eachother with ur 6 toes
Tallinn is one of my favorite cities to visit! And what would the world be like without Bolt? 😃
🇱🇹🤝🇪🇪
No it's not. Estonia is in an economic recession while Lithuania isn't.
Good video, but shitty headline.
Lithuania has šaltibarščiai which is superior to Latvian copycat auksta zupa. That's already a great reason why Lithuania is better than Latvia.
Typical Lithuanian
Why is Estonia doing better than Lithuania?
But is it? It was doing better previously, that's a fact. But now?
Latvia is obsessed with language politics. Banning Russian-speaking kindergartens is more important than growing the economy.
Both Lithuanian and Latvia are below the EU 100 with Estonia in the middle between us. I heard Estonia has so much of the government on-line and efficient. This is why Russia doesn't want you. The Baltics have nothing to offer. Seems a reason why their populations are shirking as the you college people head out to more prosperous EU countries like ireland.
:DDD I HOPE you are right and Ruzzia "doesn't want us". If you think that is an insult - you are truly insane. Also, the emigration numbers are falling for years now, get your facts straight.
Nonsense. Lithuania has been gaining population recently. And Russia does "want" them, not because they have better life quality (which they do), but because Putin wants to re-establish the old Russian Empire by subjugating all his neighbours.
Such a RuZZian narative😂
@@osasunaitor Lithuania has only grown because of ukranian refugees and central asian migrant workers, not because of Native lithuanians
@@Pepper98776 no, the population trend started to change around 2015, way before the Ukrainian refugees came. Net migration has been positive since 2019, with more people coming (mostly former Lithuanian emigrants who return) than leaving.
Hope at least someone from Latvian saeima will watch this so they get at least some ideas or right mindset to stop beeing fking greedy ,invest, improve, educate that and repeat