Latvia is losing more than 1% of its population annually, as the country's young people head abroad to find work.

With 2.2 million inhabitants, Latvia is already one of Europe's least populous countries. But every year around 30,000 people emigrate.

Today, partly because of financial insecurity, the birthrate is below 1.4 children per woman - not enough to sustain the population, even without emigration. This means that the Latvian nation is not only shrinking, but also ageing.

According to social anthropologist and government adviser Roberts Kilis, this abstract demographic trend will soon have very real consequences for people - hitting them in the pocket. By the end of the year, he says, the government will no longer be able to cover pension payments.

"That would be the first major shock, when people see a change in the way the pension system operates," Mr Kilis says.

Germany has been at 1.4 or so for over a decade, hence the introduction of the 1 year paid stay-at-home for fathers...

No tax cuts here, either.