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Demographics of Lithuania

 
Wikipedia: Demographics of Lithuania
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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.

Contents

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).

Historical demographics

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]

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.

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.

Ethnic composition

Ethnic Lithuanians

Main article: Lithuanians

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

Ethnic minorities

For more details on this topic, see Ethnic minorities in Lithuania.
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.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Lithuania

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

St. Anne's Church, Vilnius

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".

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.

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.

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)

Languages

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

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.

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]

Table of birth and death rates

Births Deaths Birth rate Death rate
1928 62,807 35,691 27.3 15.5
1929 63,083 39,669 27.1 17.0
1930 64,164 37,151 27.3 15.8
1931 63,419 37,478 26.6 15.7
1932 65,371 36,577 27.2 15.2
1933 62,145 32,749 25.5 13.4
1934 60,770 35,789 24.7 14.5
1935 57,970 34,595 23.3 13.9
1936 57,259 31,320 22.8 12.5
1937 53,399 30,966 21.0 12.2
1938 54,694 30,132 22.0 12.1
1939 54,184 32,983 22.3 13.6
1945 60,392 35,201 24.0 14.0
1946 58,399 37,688 23.1 14.9
1947 59,680 39,716 23.5 15.6
1948 58,780 35,137 23.1 13.8
1949 63,034 32,049 24.6 12.5
1950 60,719 30,870 23.7 12.0
1951 58,504 29,693 22.8 11.6
1952 56,944 28,166 22.1 10.9
1953 52,610 27,118 20.3 10.5
1954 54,229 25,559 20.8 9.8
1955 55,525 24,138 21.1 9.2
1956 53,741 21,869 20.3 8.2
1957 56,223 23,361 21.0 8.7
1958 61,190 22,103 22.6 8.2
1959 62,241 24,688 22.7 9.0
1960 62,485 21,611 22.5 7.8
1961 62,775 23,365 22.2 8.3
1962 59,728 24,925 20.8 8.7
1963 57,024 23,112 19.7 8.0
1964 55,856 21,830 19.1 7.5
1965 53,818 23,467 18.1 7.9
1966 54,275 23,799 18.1 7.9
1967 53,806 24,571 17.7 8.1
1968 54,258 25,725 17.6 8.3
1969 54,263 27,156 17.4 8.7
1970 55,519 28,048 17.7 8.9
1971 56,044 26,972 17.6 8.5
1972 54,616 29,252 17.0 9.1
1973 51,944 29,160 16.0 9.0
1974 51,941 29,612 15.9 9.0
1975 51,766 31,265 15.7 9.5
1976 52,296 31,972 15.7 9.6
1977 52,166 32,932 15.5 9.8
1978 51,821 34,008 15.3 10.1
1979 51,937 34,897 15.3 10.3
1980 51,765 35,871 15.2 10.5
1981 52,249 35,579 15.2 10.4
1982 53,141 35,040 15.4 10.1
1983 57,589 36,451 16.5 10.5
1984 57,576 38,666 16.4 11.0
1985 58,454 39,169 16.5 11.0
1986 59,705 35,788 16.7 10.0
1987 59,360 36,917 16.4 10.2
1988 56,727 37,649 15.5 10.3
1989 55,782 38,150 15.1 10.3
1990 56,868 39,760 15.3 10.7
1991 56,219 41,013 15.2 11.1
1992 53,617 41,455 14.5 11.2
1993 47,464 46,107 12.9 12.5
1994 42,376 46,486 11.6 12.7
1995 41,195 45,306 11.4 12.5
1996 39,066 42,896 10.8 11.9
1997 37,812 41,143 10.6 11.5
1998 37,508 40,793 10.6 11.5
1999 36,415 40,003 10.3 11.4
2000 34,149 38,919 9.8 11.1
2001 31,546 40,399 9.1 11.6
2002 30,014 41,072 8.7 11.8
2003 30,598 40,990 8.9 11.9
2004 30,419 41,340 8.9 12.0
2005 30,541 43,799 8.9 12.8
2006 31,265 44,813 9.2 13.2
2007 32,154 45,589 9.5 13.5
2008 35,272 43,820 10.5 13.0


See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b (Lithuanian) Letukienė, Nijolė; Gineika, Petras (2003), Istorija. Politologija: kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui, Vilnius: Alma littera, p. 182.  Statistical numbers, probably accepted in historiography (the sources, their treatment, the procedure of counting is not discussed in this book) are given, according which in 1260 there were about 0.27 million Lithuanians of 0.4 million of a whole population; in percentage: 67,5 %.
  2. ^ a b Bjorn Wiemer, Dialect and language contacts on the territory of the Grand Duchy from the 15th century until 1939, Kurt Braunmüller, Gisella Ferraresi, Aspects of multilingualism in European language history, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2003, ISBN 9027219222, Google Print, p.109; 125
  3. ^ Letukienė, N., Istorija. Politologija: kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui, 2003, p. 182. There can be found also different numbers, for example: Kevin O'Connor, The history of the Baltic States, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 0313323550, Google Print, p.17. Here author estimates that there were 9 millions of inhabitants in GDL, and 1 million of them were ethnic Lithuanians by 1387.
  4. ^ Based on 1493 population map (p.92) from Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski, Poland a Historical Atlas, Hippocrene Books, 1987, ISBN 0880293942
  5. ^ Jarmo Kotilaine, Russia's foreign trade and economic expansion in the seventeenth century: windows on the world, BRILL, 2005, ISBN 900413896X, Google Print, p.45
  6. ^ (Lithuanian) Lietuvos Didžiosios kunigaikštystės kanceliarinės slavų kalbos termino nusakymo problema Z. Zinkevičius
  7. ^ Daniel. Z Stone, A History of East Central Europe, p.4
  8. ^ Census 2001: Population by Religious Confession
  9. ^ "Eurobarometer on Social Values, Science and technology 2005" (PDF). p. 11. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf. Retrieved 2007-05-05. 
  10. ^ (Lithuanian) Death rate in Lithuania graph as of 2005
  11. ^ (Lithuanian) Official report on death causes as of 2006
  12. ^ Statistics Lithuania census 2001: (Lithuanian) Population by nationality and mothertongue
  13. ^ a b (Lithuanian)Census 2001: Mokame vis daugiau kalbų
  14. ^ Statistical Yearbook of Lithuania 2004, p. 233

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