Latvia Civil Registration

Civil registration
Research use: Uniquely identify individuals and connects them to their parents.

Record type: Civil records of birth, marriage, and death.

General: 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.

Time period: 1940-present.

Contents: 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.

Location: Civil Registry Archive in Riga.

Percentage in Family History Library: None.

Population coverage: 85% coverage.

Reliability: High.