Latvian language
The history of the Latvian language (cf. below) has placed it in a peculiar position for a language of its size whereby it is spoken by a large number of non-native speakers as compared to native speakers. The immigrant and minority population in Latvia is 700,000 people: Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, and others. The majority of immigrants came to Latvia between 1940–1991; supplementing pre-existing ethnic minority communities (Latvian Germans, Latvian Jews). In a recent survey, 60% of Latvia's ethnic minorities described their knowledge of Latvian as fluent. Fluency in Latvian is prevalent among the younger generations of the minorities.
Language policy in Latvia
The official language ("valsts valoda", literally "state language") in Latvia is Latvian; this status has been explicitly defined since 1988. In 1992, amendments to the 1989 Law on Languages strengthened the position of Latvian. All other languages, except the extinct Livonian language, are defined as foreign languages in Section 5 of the Official Language Law Law of 1999.