2025-06-03-世界卫生组织-Environmental_Health_Latvia_2025_country_profile_4页_266kb

Latvia Summary

Overview

This summary provides a detailed analysis of Latvia's performance in key environmental and health indicators, based on published data. The scorecard includes three main categories: Exposure score, Health score, and Policy score, each out of 100. The scores reflect the country's progress in managing environmental risks and their health impacts.

Core Content

Exposure Score: 68

The exposure score indicates the level of environmental risk exposure in Latvia. It considers factors such as air pollution, water and sanitation, climate change, biodiversity, chemicals, and radiation.

Health Score: 77

The health score reflects the health impact of environmental risks in Latvia. It measures how these risks affect public health, including poisoning deaths, disease burden, and other health-related outcomes.

Policy Score: 44

The policy score assesses the effectiveness of Latvia's policies and interventions in addressing environmental risks. It includes the existence of legal frameworks, regulations, and national strategies.

Key Indicators and Data

Biodiversity

• Extent of the problem:
  • 18% of terrestrial and marine areas are protected, falling short of the global target of 30% by 2030.
  • Change in forest area from 1990 to 2020: 8% decrease, equivalent to 2,380 km².
• Health impact: Insufficient data is available to assess the health impact of biodiversity loss.
• Policies:
  • No post-COP15 National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan has been submitted.
  • Legal limits on lead paint exist.
  • No poison centre is mentioned.
  • Latvia is a party to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Chemicals

• Extent of the problem:
  • Mean blood lead level in children under 5 years: 2 μg/dL.
• Health impact:
  • Poisoning deaths in 100,000 children under five, per year: <1.
  • Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisonings: data for 2021.
• Policies:
  • Legal limits on lead paint exist.
  • No poison centre is mentioned.
  • Latvia is a party to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Radiation

• Extent of the problem:
  • Deaths per 100,000 people from melanoma and other skin cancers: 8.
  • Number of deaths per 100,000 people from residential radon: *4.
• Health impact:
  • Insufficient data is available for some indicators.
• Policies:
  • No national standards on electromagnetic fields.
  • Regulations on artificial tanning devices/sun beds exist.
  • National radon regulations for dwellings exist.

References and Data Sources

The scorecard is based on the following data sources:

Air Pollution

• WHO global air quality guidelines 2021
• WHO SDG Indicator 11.6.2, PM2.5 concentrations; 2019 data
• WHO household air pollution data; 2022 data
• WHO Air pollution data portal: health impact data for 2019
• UNEP 2021: Regulating air quality
• WHO Household energy policy repository; updated 2024

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

• WHO, UNICEF: Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2022 data
• WHO water, sanitation and hygiene: burden of disease, 2019 data
• WHO GLAAS 2021/2022 cycle

Climate Change

• IEA 2023: Share of modern renewables in total final energy consumption
• WHO Health and Climate Change Country Profiles
• Honda et al. 2014: projections for 2050
• Kendrovski et al. 2017: projections for 2050
• WHO Health and Climate Change Global Survey, 2021
• WHO: Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH): Country Commitments, 2024 update
• WHO 2023: 2023 WHO review of health in nationally determined contributions and long-term strategies
• ATACH baselines, 2024 data

Biodiversity

• World Bank Group, Terrestrial and marine protected areas, 2022 data
• World Population Review 2024: Deforestation rates by country
• FAO 2020: Global Forest Resources Assessment
• CBD Online Reporting Tool 2024, updated 31 December 2024

Chemicals

• IHME: Lead exposure estimates, 2023 data
• WHO: International Health Regulations core capacity scores, 2023 data
• WHO: Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisonings; data for 2021
• WHO: Legally binding controls for lead paint, updated 2024
• WHO: World directory of poisons centres, updated 2024
• UNEP: Minamata Convention on Mercury, 2024 data

Radiation

• WHO: International Health Regulations core capacity scores, 2023 data
• WHO: Deaths from melanoma and other skin cancers, 2021 data
• IHME: Deaths from residential radon, 2021 data
• WHO: Electromagnetic fields, updated 2018
• WHO: Sunbeds: Existence of national regulations, updated 2021
• WHO: Existence of national radon regulations, 2019 data

Occupational Health

• ILOSTAT: Statistics on the informal economy, updated 2024
• WHO: Disease burden from long working hours, 2016 data
• WHO/IL0: Joint estimates of the work-related burden of disease and injury, 2016 data
• Pega et al. 2023
• WHO: Occupational Burden of Disease Application
• WHO: Existence of national policy instruments for occupational health and safety for health workers, 2023 data
• ILO ratifications of: C155, C161 and C187, updated 2024

Health Care Facilities

• WHO/UNICEF 2024: WASH in health care facilities 2023 data update
• WHO: Database on electrification of health-care facilities, updated 2023
• WHO/UNICEF Country progress tracker, updated 2023

Notes

• This scorecard is not intended for ranking but to measure and track the progress of Member States.
• The data is updated as of 2025.
• Some data points are marked as "N/A" or "INSUFFICIENT DATA," indicating gaps in information.