Officials in both Latvia and Estonia have announced the first annual increases in the number of births for more than a decade.

In 1999, 19,400 babies were born in Latvia, 990 more than the previous year, officials said this past week. It was the first time Latvia had seen an annual increase in births since 1988; that year, about 42,000 babies were born. Several weeks earlier, Estonian officials released said 12,545 babies were born in 1999 compared to 12,269 in 1998, or an increase of 276 children. The last time there was a year-on-year rise in births was also in 1988, when some 24,000 babies were born. The fall in births has coincided with sharp rises in living costs, with many families deciding they couldn't afford children. Most prices are at Western levels here, while most families make less than 600 dollars a month. Despite the encouraging news regarding newborns, deaths continue to far outnumber births in both Latvia and Estonia—so their populations continue to decline. Since 1991, the Latvian population has dropped overall from 2.67 million to 2.42 million. During the same period, Estonia's population has slipped from 1,570,000 to 1,440,000. Some of the decreases were caused by ethnic Russians and military personnel moving back to their Russian homeland after the Baltics regained independence. Demographics has been a political issue in both Latvia and Estonia. Some leaders have expressed fears about the viability of their countries, economically and culturally, if the population keeps falling. Analysts said some of the recent increases in the number of births may be due to rising living standards of some young families in Latvia and Estonia, which have seen tough economic reforms implemented in the 1990s pay off.