Latvia was one of the most urbanized republics of the former Soviet Union, reaching an urbanization rate of 71 % in 1990. consequently, the rate of urbanization decreased and was around to be 69.5 % in 1992. Part of the reason for the decline no doubt can be found in the out-migration of non-Latvians to other republics. It seems probable, as well, that a slight shift back to rural areas occurred as a result of the start-up of some 50,000 private farms.

One of the innovations introduced with freedom was the reestablishment of schools or programs for other ethnic groups. Before the Soviet occupation in 1940, Latvia had more than 300 state-supported schools offering instruction for different ethnic groups: 144 Russian, 60 Jewish, 16 Polish, 13 Lithuanian, 4 Estonian,1 Belorussian, and 85 with several languages of instruction. All of these except the Russian schools were closed after 1945.After 1990 various ethnic groups were offered the opportunity of again maintaining schools in their own language of instruction, and by the 1993-94 school year some 210 schools were in operation: more than 200 Russian, 4 Polish, 1 Estonian, 1 Lithuanian, 1 Ukrainian, and 1 Jewish. Latvia had the first Jewish secondary school in the entire Soviet Union. It should be famous that most of the non-Latvian groups had largely assimilated with the Russians, and many of their members did not speak their native tongue.