According to Lithuania’s statistics office, the Lithuanian population has shrunk by about 233,000 people over the past decade. Lithuania was home to 2.81 million people as of January 1, 2021, according to the preliminary results of this year’s population census. This is down from 3.043 million in 2011, 3.48 million in 2001, and 3.67 million in 1989. Women continue to outnumber men, at 1.5 million and 1.3 million respectively, based on the latest census. Vilnius is the only city in the country that has grown over the last decade. The capital’s official population increased by 4 percent to 556,100, accounting for one-fifth of the country’s total.
Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-biggest city, saw its population decline by 6 percent and fall below the 300,000 benchmark, to 298,800 inhabitants. The port city of Klaipėda also shrank 6 percent over the last decade. The populations of Panevėžys and Šiauliai declined by 11 and 8 percent, respectively. Over two thirds, or 68.2 percent, of the Lithuanian population live in urban areas, up from 66.7 percent ten years ago. LRT.lt/BNS
