In spite of Latvians' fears of becoming a minority and in spite of the strains caused by Russification and language inequities, a comparatively high proportion of Latvians have married members of other ethnic groups. Some 30 % of marriages involving Latvians were of mixed nationality in 1988.This rate of intermarriage was one of the highest of any titular nationality in the republics of the Soviet Union. Comparable rates were found in Belorussia and Ukraine (35.6 %); a much lower rate was found in Estonia .The marriage statistics of 1991 do not suggest any remarkable changes in this respect, with just under 18 % of all Latvians marrying members of other ethnic groups.

Perhaps the instability of marriage accounts for the comparatively high %age of births outside of marriage. In 1989 in Latvia, 15.9 % of infants were born to women who were not married. In Lithuania the comparative rate was 6.5 %, but in Estonia the rate was 25.2 %. In the Soviet Union as a whole in 1988, the rate was 10.2 %.