Information Society Development in Latvia: Current State and Perspectives

Nowadays we can observe the epochal evolution from the industrial age to the information age. The evolution towards the information age causes the rise of the information society in its diverse reality. New requirements, paradigms and technologies appear that crucially influence production, business and the whole society of every country that moves towards the information society. Several characteristic indicators and models of the information society have been proposed. Usually in models four dimensions, namely, technology, economy, welfare and social values together with a number of indicators in each of the dimensions are used. In this paper the information society development in Latvia is analysed using technology and education dimensions. Penetration of ICT, the structure of IT sector, state financing of research, the total number of students and their distribution according to study programmes are the main indicators used for the analysis of current state and perspectives of information society development in Latvia. The investigation is summarized in the SWOT analysis. At the present moment it is hard to predict which economical and technological model of the information society Latvia will follow, but definitely it will be an open information society