An international group of scientists has completed the calculation of the historical Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Baltic States over the last 100 years

On April 11th, 2024, data on the historical GDP of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia over a period of 100 years starting from 1920, will be made public for the first time. Comparative GDP calculations for various regions within the Baltic States have also been conducted.

These and many other data on the demographics and agriculture of the Baltic States have been compiled into an interactive database, which will be accessible to all interested parties starting from April 11th.

Scientific leader of the project Gatis Krūmiņš, a lead researcher at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, explains the main results of the research: "The result of an intensive work over a period of three years will allow us to look at the last 100 years of the Baltic States' history from a different perspective. It will be more based on facts than emotions. The results of our study will challenge some assumptions about the economic history of Latvia, such as the slowdown in economic development during the authoritarian regime of Kārlis Ulmanis, or the decline in production that began only after the restoration of the state independence in 1990-1991. The results of our study will help answer questions about when and how the development of our regions, especially Latgale, began. How the land use has changed and many other things."

On April 11th, a public event to present the results of the research project will take place at the EU House (28 Aspazijas Boulevard, Riga) from 14:00 to 16:00. Gatis Krūmiņš, Kaspars Osis (Associate Professor at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences), and Adomas Klimantas (Vilnius and Oxford University) will present the main results of the research work and the database created, followed by a panel discussion (participants: Viktors Valainis (Minister of Economics), Egils Levits (former President of the country), Ojārs Kehris (President of the Association of Economists and former Minister of Economics), Adomas Klimantas (PhD candidate at Oxford University), and Ola Honningdal Grytten (Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics); moderator – Pauls Raudseps).

The project "Quantitative Data on Social and Economic Transformations in Three Baltic States Regions Over the Past Hundred Years for the Analysis of Historical Transformations and Overcoming Future Challenges" (No. EEA-RESEARCH-174, 2021-2024) is one of the projects of the Baltic Research Program financially supported by the European Economic Area (EEA) grants.

The event will take place within the framework of the international scientific conference of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences SOCIETY. TECHNOLOGIES. SOLUTIONS, and will be broadcasted live.