|Latvia Table of Contents In spite of Latvians' fears of
becoming a minority and in spite of the strains caused by
Russification and language inequities, a relatively high
proportion of Latvians have married members of other ethnic
groups. Some 30 percent of marriages involving Latvians were of
mixed nationality in 1988 (although only 17 percent of all
marrying Latvians in 1988 entered into mixed marriages). This
rate of intermarriage was one of the highest of any titular
nationality in the republics of the Soviet Union. Comparable
rates were found in Belorussia (34.6 percent) and Ukraine (35.6
percent); a much lower rate was found in Estonia (16.1 percent).
The marriage statistics of 1991 do not indicate any significant
changes in this respect, with just under 18 percent of all
Latvians marrying members of other ethnic groups. Latvia has an
extremely high divorce rate, but there is no adequate
explanation for it. In 1991 Latvia registered 22,337 weddings
and 11,070 divorces, for a divorce rate of 49.6 percen