Community

The capital of students, suburb of Riga, strong regional centre, developing city - these are just some of stereotypes about Jelgava.

 

Students' capital - that's for sure - Latvia University of Life Science and Technologies with about 4 500 students gives a special trait to the city - bustle in city calms down for 2 months in summer only. Suburb of Riga - perhaps "yes" and perhaps "no" - more that 10 000 citizens commute to Riga daily. Proximity to capital city plays its two-part role explicitly.

 

To start with, the population of Jelgava is 60 000. Proportion of men in the city is 45,5%. Natural growth of population in Jelgava, just like all around Latvia, unfortunately is negative.

 

There is a comparatively high proportion of people of working age – 61,8% on average. Already now we have to face the fact that the small proportion of children nowadays will cause problems in the labour resources market in the future - at the moment, 16,7% of Jelgava's citizens are under working age.

 

Many people are employed in public sector in Jelgava – approximately 42%; it is more than average in Latvia (~34%). It can be explained by the fact that the Latvia University of Life Science and Technologies and other educational institutions are the largest employers in Jelgava; moreover, regional administration institutions are situated in the city. Jelgava as working place seems to be attractive to many Rigans as well as people from other districts.

 

Municipality tackles employment issues by implementing investment projects and attracting foreign investors that create new work places. However, one of possible problems for attraction of new investors in the future might be the lack of labour resources.

 

In this section you will find plenty of information about institutions, estbalishments and overall data that is connected to community in Jelgava. To see more statistical data on the economy of Jelgava, check the section Bussines. Tourism related information can be found in section Touruism.