On Monday, local media in Lithuania reported that Riga’s population has decreased, making Vilnius for the first time the biggest city in the Baltic states. The mayor, Remigijus Šimašius, also shared the news on Facebook. However, is this true?
While the Latvian Bureau of Statistics has reported 605,802 inhabitants, Vilnius has two different population estimates, depending on the statistics authority.
As of July 1, there were 576,195 people living in the Vilnius City Municipality, according to the Statistics Department. This would put Vilnius behind Riga in population size.
However, the figures of the Centre of Register show 617,096 people currently living in the Lithuanian capital, which would indeed make Vilnius the biggest city in the Baltic states.
So which is correct?
“The Statistics Department counts and publishes information on permanent residents, ie those who have been residents for 12 months or more, as well as newcomers who intend to stay for 12 months,” Birutė Stolytė, a spokesperson for the Lithuanian Statistics Department, told LRT.lt.
“We also count Ukrainians and other foreigners who have declared their residence on arrival and have a residence permit for a year or more,” she added.
According to the statistics office, a permanent resident is a person who is registered in two or more databases - SoDra, e-health, SVIDRA, the Health Insurance Register, the Pupil and Student Register, the State Tax Inspectorate, or the Employment Service.
The Centre of Registres, however, uses a different method.
“The Register collects data on every person who has declared their place of residence,” Mindaugas Samkus, spokesperson of the Centre of Registers, told LRT.lt. “Meanwhile, the Department of Statistics calculates according to the actual place of residence, whether the person has gone abroad and so on.
According to Samkus, students and people who go abroad result in the difference between the two reported figures.
Meanwhile, the Latvian Bureau of Statistics confirmed to LRT.lt that it counts the population in the same way as their Lithuanian counterparts at the Statistics Department.
“The population is defined as persons who have lived in the place for at least 12 months before January 1 of the year, as well as those who intend to stay here for more than a year,” the Bureau said in a written comment.
According to the latest data, there are 605,802 residents in Riga.
Therefore, according to the authorities interviewed by LRT.lt, the most accurate estimate of Vilnius' population is 576,195, as per the Statistics Department data. This puts Vilnius behind Riga and its population of 605,802 people.
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