Kekava Municipality
Village of 333 (1967) became city of 32,500 (2022). Soviet poultry factory produces 95% of Latvia's chicken. One of few municipalities with positive population growth.
Ķekava demonstrates how a village of 333 becomes a city of 32,500 when it sits 21 km from a capital. The transformation began with a Soviet kolkhoz and a poultry factory—the Ķekava chicken factory that now produces 95% of all poultry in Latvia. After the Soviet collapse, the state enterprise privatized and became simply "Ķekava."
The name derives from the Ķekava River, whose course bends sharply in its middle reaches: "kek" (bend) + "av" (flow) in Baltic root words. The municipality straddles the Sausā Daugava, a Daugava tributary. WWI saw fighting here—the First and Second Battles of Ķekava (1916) as Germans advanced toward Riga.
Today Ķekava is one of few Latvian municipalities with positive population growth. The 2021 reform expanded it by absorbing Baldone municipality. In 2022, Ķekava received city status—a village no longer. Three towns (Ķekava, Baloži, Baldone) and three rural territories now span 454.5 km².
By 2026, Ķekava's trajectory depends entirely on Riga's. If the capital grows, its suburb grows with it. If Riga stagnates, so does the bedroom community that feeds the chicken to one-third of Latvia.