Population of Lithuania (in millions) from 1950-2009.

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Lithuania, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

[edit] Prehistory

The earliest evidence of inhabitants in present-day Lithuania dates back to 10,000 BC. Between 3,000–2,000 BC, the cord-ware culture people spread over a vast region of eastern Europe, between the Baltic Sea and the Vistula River in the West and the Moscow-Kursk line in the East. Merging with the indigenous population, they gave rise to the Balts, a distinct Indo-European ethnic group whose descendants are the present-day Lithuanian and Latvian nations and Prussians (who no longer existing).

[edit] Historical demographics

[edit] Grand Duchy of Lithuania

See also: Demographics and Languages of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Demographics of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Area of the Lithuanian language in the 16th century

Map showing changes in the territory of Lithuania from the 13th century to the present day

The name of Lithuania – Lithuanians – was first mentioned in 1009. Among its etymologies there are a derivation from the word Lietava, for a small river, a derivation from a word leičiai.

The primary Lithuanian state, Duchy of Lithuania, emerged in the land of Lietuva, ethnic land of Lithuanians. At the birth of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ethnic Lithuanians made up about 70% of the population.^[1] With the acquisition of new Ruthenian territories, this part decreased to 50% and later to 30%. By the time of the largest expansion towards Rus' lands, at the end of the 13th and during the 14th century, the territory of the GDL was about 800 thousand km², and 10% of it was ethnically Lithuanian.^[2] The ethnic Lithuanian population is estimated to have been 0.42 million of 1.4 million in 1375 (the territory was about 700 thousand km²), 0.55 million of 3.8 million in 1490 (territory: 850 thousand km²)^[3] In addition to the Ruthenians and Lithuanians other populous ethnic groups through GDL were Jews and Tatars. An estimate of the population in the territory of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania together gives a population at 7.5 million for 1493, breaking them down by ethnicity at 3.25 million Poles, 3.75 million Ruthenians and 0.5 million Lithuanians.^[4] With the Union of Lublin Lithuanian Grand Duchy lost large part of lands to the Polish Crown (see demographics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). An ethnic Lithuanian proportion being about 1/4 in GDL after the Union of Lublin was held till the partitions. There was much devastation and population loss throughout the GDL in the mid and late 17th century,^[5] including ethnic Lithuanian population in Vilnius surroundings. Besides devastation, Ruthenian population declined proportionally after the territorial losses to Russian Empire. In 1770 there were about 4.84 million inhabitants in GDL, the biggest part of whom where Ruthenians, about 1.39 million – Lithuanians.^[1] The voivodeships with the predominant ethnic Lithuanian population were Vilnius, Trakai and Samogitian voivodeships. In the southern angle of Trakai voivodeship, and south-eastern part of Vilnius voivodeship there were many Belarusians too, in some of the south-eastern areas they were the major linguistic group.

The Ruthenian population made a majority in GDL from the times of its expansion in the mid 14th century and the adjective "Lithuanian", besides denoting ethnic Lithuanian, from early times denoted any inhabitant of GDL: a Slav, a Jew. The political center of the state was all three voivodeships with the predominant ethnic Lithuanian population: Vilnius, Trakai, Samogitian. In the southern angle of Trakai voivodeship, and south-eastern part of Vilnius voivodeship there were many Belarusians too, in some of the south-eastern areas they were major linguistic group.

Ruthenian language, which type is today Belarusian and Ukrainian, then called Russian, was used as one of the chancellery languages by Lithuanian monarchs. There are less of documents written in this language remained than written in Latin and German from the time of Vytautas. Later it became the main language of documentation and writings. Changing a bit through time, it was used as a main chancellery language till the introducing of Polish as the chancellery language of the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth in 1697, but there are examples of documents written in it from the second half of the 18th century too.^[6] Lithuanian language was used in a spoken form in Vilnius, Trakai and Samogitian voivodeships, by small numbers of persons also in other. At the court of Zygmunt August, the last king of the Duchy, both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken.^[7]

[edit] Russian empire

After partitions of Lithuania in the late 18th century it become a part of Russian empire. During this time, after the abolition of serfdom in 1861 Polish language experienced a noticeable rise in eastern Lithuania and western Belarus.^[2] Many Lithuanians, living more far to the east, not receiving Lithuanian printed books, smuggled into Lithuania by knygnešiai during the time of ban of press printed in Latin alphabet, switched to Polish, which also used Latin letters, but in reality was incomparably less vulnerable by the ban, because Polish was used by nobility, the politically important class, from the earlier times, used more than Lithuanian in the biggest towns of Lithuania, more supported by church.

[edit] National revival

With the Lithuanian National Revival, beginning to intensify by the end of the 19th century, the number of Lithuanian speakers and people identifying themselves as ethnic Lithuanians started to increase, but at the same time many Polish speaking Lithuanians, especially former szlachta, cut themselves adrift from Lithuanian nation. There were population losses due to several border changes, Soviet deportations, a massacre of Jewish population, German and Polish repatriations during and after World War II. After the World War II ethnic Lithuanian population remained stable: 79.3% in 1959 to 83.5% in 2002. Lithuania's citizenship law and the Constitution meet international and OSCE standards, guaranteeing universal human and civil rights.

[edit] Ethnic composition

[edit] Ethnic Lithuanians

Lithuanians are neither Slavic nor Germanic, although the union with Poland, German and Russian colonization and settlement left cultural and religious influences.

[edit] Ethnic minorities

Number of Poles in Lithuania

Among the Baltic states, Lithuania has the most homogeneous population. According to the census conducted in 2001, 83.45% of the population identified themselves as Lithuanians, 6.74% as Poles, 6.31% as Russians, 1.23% as Belarusians, and 2.27% as members of other ethnic groups.

Poles are concentrated in the Vilnius Region, the area controlled by Poland in the interwar period. Especially large communities of Polish minority in Lithuania are in Vilnius district municipality (61.3% of the population) and Šalčininkai district municipality (79.5%). Such concentration would allow Election Action of Lithuania's Poles, an ethnic minority-based political party, to exert political influence but the 5% rule prevents it from entering parliament of Lithuania. The party is more active in local politics and controls several municipal councils.

Russians, even though they are almost as numerous as Poles, are much more evenly scattered and lack a strong political party. The most prominent community lives in Visaginas (52%). Most of them are scientists who moved with their families from the Russian SFSR to work at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Lithuania is noted for its success in limiting Russian immigration during the Soviet period (1945-1990), in comparison to Latvia and Estonia. A number of ethnic Russians (mostly military) left Lithuania after the declaration of independence in 1990.

In the past, the ethnic composition of Lithuania has undergone dramatic changes. The most prominent change is the extermination of the Jewish population during the Holocaust. Before World War II about 7.5% of the population was Jewish; they were concentrated in cities and towns and had a significant influence on crafts and business. They were called Litvaks and had a strong culture. The population of Vilnius, sometimes nicknamed Northern Jerusalem, was about 30% Jewish. Almost all of these Jews were killed during the Nazi Germany occupation, or later emigrated to the United States and Israel. Now there are only about 4,000 Jews living in Lithuania.

[edit] Religion

Population by Religious Confession (2001 census):^[8]

St. Anne's Church, Vilnius

• Roman Catholics - 79% (2,752,447 people)
• Orthodox Believers - 4.05% (141,821)
• Old Believers - 0.77% (27,073)
• Evangelical Lutherans - 0.56% (19,637)
• Evangelical Reformists - 0.2% (7,082)
• Jehovah's Witnesses - 0.1% (3,512)
• Sunni Muslims - 0.08% (2,860)
• All Gospel Churches - 0.06% (2,207)
• Pentecostal Church - 0.04% (1,307)
• Judaists - 0.04% (1,272)
• Balts Believers - 0.04% (1,270)
• Baptists (and other independent churches) - 0.04% (1,249)
• Other believers - 0.135% (4,701)
• Not any - 9.5% (331,087)
• Not indicated - 5.35% (186,447)

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,^[9] 12% said that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force" , 36% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 49% of Lithuanian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".

[edit] Citizenship

The fact that Lithuania has joined the European Union has made Lithuanian citizenship all the more appealing. Lithuanian citizenship is theoretically easier (see court ruling notes below) to obtain than that of many other European countries - only one great-grandparent is necessary to become a Lithuanian citizen. Persons who held citizenship in the Republic of Lithuania prior to June 15, 1940, and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren (provided that these persons did not repatriate) are eligible for Lithuanian citizenship [1].

Lithuanian citizens are, naturally, allowed to travel throughout the European Union without a visa. As far as work is concerned, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Finland, and Greece place no restrictions on Lithuanians working in their respective countries. The other original member nations of the European Union still place restrictions on work, but these are merely transitional agreements.

[edit] Dual citizenship ruled unconstitutional

The Lithuanian Constitutional Court has ruled in November 2006 that a number of provisions of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Citizenship are in conflict with the Lithuanian Constitution. In particular, the Constitutional Court has ruled that a number of current provisions of the Citizenship Law implicitly or explicitly allowing dual citizenship are in conflict with the Constitution; such provisions complemented to unconstitutional practice of making dual citizenship a common phenomenon rather than a rare exception. The provisions of the Citizenship Law announced unconstitutional are no longer valid and applicable to the extent stated by the Constitutional Court.

The Lithuanian Parliament amended the Citizenship Law substantially as a result of the above-mentioned ruling of the Constitutional Court, allowing double Citizenship for children of at least one Lithuanian parent that are born abroad, yet preventing Lithuanians from keeping their Lithuanian citizenship after obtaining citizenship of another country.

There are some special cases still permitting dual citizenship. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_nationality_law.

[edit] CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population: 3,555,179 (2009 est.)

Age structure:
0–14 years: 14.2% (male 258,423/female 245,115)
15–64 years: 69.6% (male 1,214,743/female 1,261,413)
65 years and over: 16.2% (male 198,714/female 376,771) (2009 est.)

Population growth rate: −0.28% (2009 est.)

Birth rate: 9.11 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Death rate: 11.18 deaths/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.72 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Map of population density in Lithuania

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.53 male(s)/female
total population: 0.89 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate: Total: 6.47 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 7.73 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.13 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.9 years
male: 69.98 years
female: 80.1 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.47 children born/woman (2008) [2]

Suicide rate: With 38.6 suicides per every 100,000 people Lithuania has the second highest suicide rate in the world as well as the highest male suicide rate (2005)^[10][11].

Divorce rate: With 3.2 divorces per every 1000 people, Lithuania in 2004 had the highest divorce rate in Europe [3]. (3.1 in 2008)

[edit] Languages

Languages by mother tongue (census 2001):^[12]:

• Lithuanian - 82%
• Russian - 8%
• Polish - 5,6%
• Belorussian - 0,46%
• Ukrainian - 0,235%
• Other - 0,28%
• Did not specify - 3,5%

The Lithuanian language, which uses the modified Latin alphabet, is the country's official language. It is the first language of 82% of population and also spoken by 356 thousand out of 577 thousand non-Lithuanians.^[13] The Soviet era had imposed the official use of Russian, so most adult Lithuanians speak Russian as a second language, while the original Polish population generally speaks Polish and Russians who immigrated after World War II speak Russian as their first language. The younger generation usually speaks English as their second language. According to census of 2001, 17% of population can speak English fluently (21% in urban areas, 9% in rural areas).^[13]

About 30,600 pupils started their 2003 school year in schools where the entire curriculum is conducted in Russian (down from 76,000 in 1991), and about 20,500 enrolled in Polish schools (up from 11,400 in 1991). There are also schools in the Belarusian language (these enrolled about 160 students in 2003), as well as in German.

[edit] Literacy

Lithuania is one of the most literate countries in the world. The portion of people 15-years-old and older who can read and write is 99.6% according to the 2001 census. The proportion between males and females is the same. Primary, secondary, and high school education is free to all residents. Ten years of schooling is required. Tertiary education is almost free. Depending on grades, a student might receive a stipend or make a payment of 520 litas per semester. There are also small social stipends available for students with economic difficulties. In 2003 43,900 students were admitted to 21 universities in Lithuania (11,100 of the to master programs). About 70% of high school graduates continue to study in universities or professional schools.^[14]

[edit] See also

• Lithuania
• Lithuanians in Brazil
• Ethnic history of the Vilnius region
• Russians in Lithuania
• Aging of Europe

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• statistics about education in Lithuania (PDF)
• Key results of Lithuanian census
• Suicide statistics as of 2005 (Lith.)