Medical Tourism

A medical tourist is a foreigner, private individual, who travels outside the country of his or her habitual residence and who receives elective medical services on the administrative territory of Latvia during his or her journey, which are not covered by State budget resources.

The report does not include information on the healthcare services provided for:

• a) a foreigner with a permanent residence permit in the Republic of Latvia;
• b) a stateless person who has been granted stateless person status in the Republic of Latvia;
• c) a foreigner who has been granted refugee or alternative status in the Republic of Latvia;
• d) an asylum seeker;
• e) a foreigner who receives emergency medical assistance in cases of sudden illness or injury, including if the person has presented The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC);
• f) an arrested person and a convicted person in deprivation of liberty institutions;
• g) military personnel of the armed forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union Member States, civil personnel of the armed forces, dependants of such military or civil personnel, and also other persons related to the armed forces, who have a certification of the right to stay in the Republic of Latvia;
• h) citizens of Ukraine residing in the Republic of Latvia who receive here a pension paid by the Ukrainian or Latvian and Ukrainian State;
• i) etc.

Region is a territorial division in regions according to the Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) which determines the applicability of NUTS to the administrative territorial division of Latvia. For a list of cities and municipalities in regions, see https://likumi.lv/ta/id/328252

The habitual residence is the country code of the person's habitual residence according to the standardized list of country and territory codes, represented as two letters (ISO alpha-2). In cases where the patient does not however have a known habitual residence, the country code is indicated as “ZZ”. In cases where the patient does not have a known habitual residence, but it is known that the patient is a Latvian citizen who has emigrated to other countries where he or she currently resides, the place of residence is indicated as “XX”.

The total cost of healthcare services - the total amount paid by a patient for the services provided.

Age group - the age of a patient at the start of treatment.

Duration of treatment at the institution:

• a) for inpatient services, the duration of treatment in days is indicated. Note that the dates of entry and discharge shall be counted as one day in total
• b) for outpatient and day-hospital services, the number of visits in days is indicated (even if three specialists are visited in one day, it is counted as one day).

Average duration of treatment – the total duration of treatment of all patients is divided by the total number of patients.

Average amount spent on one medical service – the total amount spent on healthcare services for all patients is divided by the total number of medical services.

Information has been compiled based on information provided by medical treatment institutions according to state statistical report “Report of Healthcare Services Provided to Foreigners”.

Information for 2019 has been compiled in accordance with Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 10, “Regulations Regarding State Statistical Reports in the Field of Health Care”.

From 2020, information has been compiled in accordance with Annex 8 to Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 720 “Regulations Regarding Samples of Official Statistical Forms in the Field of Health Care”.

The report is submitted in accordance with the Official Statistics Programme.

Research and Publications Link

The Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia

Janis Misins

Head of the Health Statistics Unit

Phone Number: +371 67501582

Creation date of metadata: 31.07.2025.