The number of Russians and Poles has dropped in Lithuania over the past 20 years, according to the results of last year’s population and housing census.
According to the census published by Statistics Lithuania on Tuesday, the share of the Russian population in Lithuania has dropped from 6.3 percent to 5 percent since 2001.
The share of Poles shrank from 6.7 percent to 6.5 percent over the same period, and the share of Belarusians inched down from 1.2 percent to 1 percent of the total population.
The number of Ukrainians has gone down from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent, but these figures do not reflect the changes after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started in February this year.
According to Statistics Lithuania, Ukrainian refugees have been included in the preliminary monthly migration statistics since the start of the war, but only if they officially declared their residence in Lithuania, have a permit and intend to stay for at least one year.
In total, the permanent population of Lithuania has shrunk by one-fifth, or around 673,000 people, over the last two decades. In January 2021, 2,811,000 people lived in Lithuania, compared to 3,484,000 in January 2001 when the first post-independence population census was carried out.
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