Information for Policy Planning from Baltic Individual Crisis Preparedness Barometer 2025

The Baltic Individual Crisis Preparedness Barometer 2025 – Policy Guidelines is an extensive policy-oriented analysis prepared by Dr. Ieva Birka and Dr. Didzis Kļaviņš of the University of Latvia. It synthesizes findings from a representative survey of 3,016 residents in Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius, conducted in spring 2025, alongside insights from 12 expert interviews carried out later that year, to assess how urban populations perceive risks and how prepared they are for crises ranging from natural hazards to hybrid threats. The document explores perceived security levels, major threat concerns, and significant gaps between residents’ self-assessed and actual household preparedness, including deficiencies in water, food, cash reserves, first aid supplies, radios, and knowledge of emergency shelters. It highlights demographic differences—across age, gender, and linguistic groups—in risk perception, communication trust, and preparedness behaviors, revealing particularly low awareness and readiness among younger residents and notable disparities between majority and Russian-speaking populations. The guidelines also analyze institutional preparedness in workplaces and educational establishments, which often lack adequate emergency supplies and clear crisis protocols. Drawing on expert perspectives, the document presents best practices from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, emphasizing the importance of coordinated national–municipal governance, multilingual and targeted crisis communication, hands-on training, community-level engagement, civil–military exercises, and investments in shelters and early warning systems. The final section offers detailed policy recommendations aimed at strengthening household self-sufficiency, improving crisis communication systems, enhancing institutional readiness, tailoring outreach to diverse demographic groups, and expanding experiential learning. Together, these insights lay the foundation for improving urban resilience across the Baltic capitals and will support ongoing monitoring through the Baltic Individual Crisis Preparedness Barometer in the coming years 2026-2028. The research was conducted with the support of Project No 5.2.1.1.i.0/2/24/I/CFLA/007 "Internal and External Consolidation of the University of Latvia" of the second round of the Consolidation and Governance Change Implementation Grants within Investment 5.2.1.1.i "Research, Development and Consolidation Grants" under Reform 5.2.1.r "Higher Education and Science Excellence and Governance Reform" of Reform and Investment Strand 5.2 of the Latvian Recovery and Resilience Mechanism Plan "Ensuring Change in the Governance Model of Higher Education Institutions". Project title: "Urban Preparedness for Emerging Risks in the Baltic Sea Region" (Project Grant Agreement Number: LU-BA-PA-2024/1-0051).