Kalniete was born in Togur, Kolpashevsky District, Tomsk Oblast, Siberia, Russia, where her family had been deported from Latvia by the Soviet secret police during the occupation of her country by the Soviet Union, for use as slave labour. Her mother Ligita Kalniete (née Dreifelde, 1926-2006) was first deported together with her mother and father in 1941, after which Ligita returned in 1948, just to be deported again in 1949. Her father Aivars Kalnietis (born 1931) was deported together with his mother in 1949 as well. She only saw her native country when she was five years old, when the family was allowed to return in 1957.