Latvia Civil Registration

Offices to Contact
Civil Registry Archive in Riga

Historical Background
The Soviets implemented civil registration in 1940. Metrical book transcripts served this purpose previously. Registration offices are co-located with "marriage palaces" permitting the registration and performance of weddings to occur at the same place and time.

Coverage and Compliance
Time period: 1940-present. Population coverage: 85% coverage.

Information Recorded in the Records
Birth, marriage, and death records have the exact date of the event, including time of day for births; names of principal and parents; occupation and religious preference of parents; name of informant for births and names of witnesses for marriages; place of residence for parents of newly born, of the groom and bride for marriages, and of the deceased for deaths; age at death, cause of death, and place of burial in death records.

Birth and baptism registers: name and surname of the child, date, time and place of birth names and surnames of child’s parents, confession, social status or occupation (in some cases place of origin) whether the child was born in wedlock names of godparents name and surname of person who performed the baptism, place of baptism

Engagement, banns and marriage registers: names and surnames of groom and bride, age, social status and occupation, birth place and confession, previous family status, date of engagement and marriage names and surnames of groom’s and bride’s parents, whether alive or deceased, social status and occupation information about the clergyman

Death registers name and surname of the deceased person, place of birth, age, family status, date and place of death, cause of death, date of funeral (in some cases also the place) In some cases the death records of the Roman Catholic congregation also contain information by whom the deseased was survived.