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Vilnius is the historic and present-day capital of Lithuania. Records of demographic measures go back to 1766, though the city itself has existed much longer. In recent days, the demographics have been heavily influenced by the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Demographics of Vilnius
Population pyramid of the Vilnius City in 2021
Population	633,481 (2023)

Current Demographics

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and an influx of Ukrainian refugees to Lithuania, who were granted a refugee status the number of inhabitants of Vilnius rose to 636,209 as of February 2024 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The number of inhabitants of Vilnius, born in Ukraine rose from 10 thousand to 29 thousand between 2021 and 2023. The number of persons born in Belarus rose from 25 thousand to 37 thousand during the same period mostly as a consequence of 2020–2021 Belarusian protests and intensified fleeing abroad of its citizens. Also, numbers of persons, who settle in Vilnius, coming from Central Asia, Caucasus, African, Asian (most notably - India) countries are on the rise.

In 2023-2024 a surge of migrants from Central Asia and India was observed. The number of economic migrants in Lithuania from Uzbekistan rose from 1.8 thousand to almost 10 thousand, from Kyrgyzstan – from less than 2 thousand to more than 6.6 thousand, from Tajikistan – from 1.4 thousand to 6.3 thousand, from India – from 1.2 thousand to 5.2 thousand. Most of these migrants settled in Vilnius.

As of late 2023, 73 thousand foreigners lived in Vilnius, up from 38 thousand a year and a half earlier. In January 2022, there were also 5 000 foreign minors living in Vilnius, but the number had risen to 13 000 in January 2023.

Before these dramatic changes, what led to the sharp rise of the number of inhabitants, the city of Vilnius as of early 2021 had a population between 569,729 (according to Statistics Lithuania) and 588,412 (according to the State Enterprise Centre of Registers). According to the municipality of Vilnius, the city had a population of 597,610 as of May 2022 – the figure includes Grigiškės, a formally separate town within the municipality of the capital, but without a separate body of a town government except that of a Vilnius city district (seniūnija). The actual number of city inhabitants could be higher as according to the Vilnius territorial health insurance fund, there were 732,815 permanent inhabitants as of January 2021 in Vilnius city and Vilnius district municipalities combined.

According to the predictions, made by the municipality specialists of the city planning department of Vilnius, the number of inhabitants of Vilnius in 2030 could be between 630,3 thousand (pessimistic scenario) and 685 thousand (optimistic scenario) with the basic scenario of 651,6 thousand inhabitants within the city borders.

Evolution

Demographic evolution of Vilnius between 1766 and 2024:

Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity

Year	Lithuanians		Poles		Russians		Jews		Others		Total
1897	3,131	2%	47,795	31%	30,967	20%	61,847	40%	10,792	7%	154,532
1916	3,669	2.6%	70,629	50.1%	2,080	1.5%	61,265	43.5%	3,217	2.3%	140,840
1917	2,909	2.1%	74,466	53.65%	2,212	1.6%	57,516	41.44%	1,872	0.77%	138,787
1919	2,900	2.3%	72,067	56.1%	4,049	3.2%	46,506	36.2%	2,954	2.3%	128,476
1923	1,445	0.9%	100,830	60.2%	4,669	2.8%	56,168	33.5%	4,342	2.6%	167,454
1931	1,579	0.8%	128,628	65.9%	7,372	3.8%	54,596	28%	1,159	0.6%	195,071
1941	52,370	28.1%	94,511	50.7%	6.712	3.6%	30,179	16.2%	2,541	1.4%	186,313
1942	29,480	20.5%	103,203	71.9%	6,012	2%	-	-	1,220	0.4%	143,498
1951	55,300	30.8%	37,700	21%	59,700	33.3%	5,500	3.1%	21,100	11.8%	179,300
1959	79,363	33.6%	47,226	20%	69,416	29.4%	16,354	6.9%	23,719	10%	236,078
1970	159,156	42.8%	68,261	18.6%	91,004	24.5%	16,491	4.4%	37,188	10%	372,100
1979	225,137	47.3%	85,562	18%	105,618	22.2%	10,723	2.3%	48,785	10.3%	475,825
1989	291,527	50.5%	108,239	18.8%	116,618	20.2%	9,109	1.6%	51,524	8.9%	576,747
2001	318,510	57.5%	104,446	18.9%	77,698	14.1%	2,770	0.5%	50,480	9.1%	553,904
2011	337,000	63.2%	88,380	16.5%	64,275	12%	2,026	0.4%	45,976	8.6%	535,631
2021	373,511	67.1%	85,438	15.4%	53,886	9.7%	N/A		43,655	7.8%	556,490

Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth

Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (as of March 2023)

Country of birth	Number of inhabitants
Lithuania	522,481
Belarus	37,197
Ukraine	29,336
Russia	20,834
Great Britain	2,330
Kazakhstan	1,938
Latvia	1,393
Germany	1,089
Uzbekistan	941
Azerbaijan	931
Kyrgyzstan	766
Poland	757
Georgia	688
United States of America	683
India	624
Tajikistan	540
Turkey	519
Moldova	510
Ireland	469
Italy	388
Norway	387
Armenia	380
Estonia	379
France	367
Spain	253
China	245
Nigeria	216
Belgium	209
Denmark	207
Turkmenistan	179
Netherlands	179
Syria	177
Afghanistan	170
Cameroon	151
Sweden	147
Pakistan	144
Iran	139
Egypt	125
Israel	103
Finland	96
Hungary	88
Canada	81
Portugal	81
Brazil	79
Lebanon	78
Switzerland	77
Czech Republic	74
Austria	70
Thailand	69
Vietnam	64
United Arab Emirates	59
Argentina	57
Greece	56
Mexico	56
Australia	54
Romania	49
Bulgaria	47
Cyprus	45
Japan	44
South Korea	37
Serbia	36
Colombia	35
Iceland	35
Morocco	35
South Africa	35
Slovakia	34
Venezuela	32
Iraq	30
Nepal	30
Luxembourg	28
Indonesia	27
Tunisia	25
Saudi Arabia	24
Bangladesh	22
Ghana	22
Mongolia	22
Albania	20
Algeria	20
Eritrea	20
Other countries	421

Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (2021)

Country of birth	Number of inhabitants
Lithuania	517,936
Belarus	25,591
Russia	18,731
Ukraine	10,158
Great Britain	2,239
Kazakhstan	1,598
Latvia	1,335
Germany	954
Poland	752
United States of America	618
Uzbekistan	578
Azerbaijan	496
Georgia	474
Ireland	470
India	408
Moldova	384
Italy	378
Estonia	373
Norway	364
France	341
Turkey	329
Armenia	316
Kyrgyzstan	297
China	283
Spain	254
Tajikistan	209
Belgium	189
Denmark	187
Turkmenistan	153
Netherlands	149
Sweden	140
Nigeria	122
Iran	120
Cameroon	114
Syria	109
Serbia	98
Finland	97
Egypt	91
Israel	87
Pakistan	79
Vietnam	79
Hungary	77
Portugal	73
Austria	70
Canada	70
Switzerland	67
Czech Republic	67
Brazil	64
Afghanistan	51
Lebanon	51
Australia	50
Thailand	49
Greece	46
Mexico	45
Argentina	44
Bulgaria	44
United Arab Emirates	41
Japan	40
South Korea	36
Cyprus	31
Luxembourg	28
Iceland	27
Slovakia	27
Colombia	26
Romania	26
Nepal	24
Albania	23
Iraq	23
Morocco	22
Other countries	500

Elderships of Vilnius

See also

• Demographic history of the Vilnius region

Notes

1. Some inhabitants of Vilnius district were registered at Vilnius city healthcare facilities – the actual number of permanent city inhabitants within the city administrative borders must have been higher than official figures of 569, 588 or 589 thousand, but smaller than 643,965 (as of 31 December 2020)

References

1. WAR REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE, Statistics of Lithuania
2. ^ Statistics of Vilnius
3. Lietuvoje mažėja ukrainiečių, kartais auga atvykusiųjų iš Vidurinės Azijos
4. Number of foreigners living in Lithuania surpasses 200,000
5. "Nuolatinių gyventojų skaičius apskrityse ir savivaldybėse metų pradžioje". osp.stat.gov.lt. Archived from the original on 2020-02-03. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
6. "Vilniaus istorija". vle.lt. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
7. State Enterprise Centre of Registers of Lithuania
8. "Health Insurance Fund under the Ministry of Health". Archived from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
9. "Inhabitants, registered at Vilnius city primary healthcare facilities". Archived from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
10. Vilniaus miesto darnaus judumo plano santrauka, Vilniaus planas, page 48
11. "Gyventoju skaicius pagal savivaldybes 2023" (PDF). Registrucentras.lt. 2023-01-05.
12. Juozas Jurginis; Vytautas Merkys; Adolfas Tautavičius (1968). Vilniaus miesto istorija [Vilnius city history] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
13. Lexykon geograficzny, dla gruntownego poięcia gazet i historyi z różnych autorów zebrany, przetłumaczony i napisany przez x. Hilaryona Karpińskiego, Z. S. Bazylego w prowincyi litewskiey kapłana i teologa. Po śmierci iego, z przydatkiem odmian, które zaszły, z wykładem na początku terminów geograficznych, i słownikiem nazwisk łacińskich na końcu położonym, do druku podany [A geographic Lexicon, for the thorough help of newspapers and histories from various authors collected, translated and written by x. Hilaryon Karpiński, Z. S. Bazyli in the provinces and a Lithuanian priest and theologian. After the death of iego, with the advent of variations that have occurred, with a lecture at the beginning of geographical terms, and a dictionary of Latin names at the end, printed for publication] (in Polish). Vilnius. 1766. p. 602. Mieszkancow zaś dufz liczy na 60,000.
14. Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom XIII [Geographical dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries, Volume XIII] (in Polish). Warsaw. 1893. p. 493. Retrieved 10 March 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
15. "The Great War in Lithuania 1914–1918".
16. Pukienė, Vida. "Voronežas – lietuvių švietimo židinys Rusijoje Pirmojo pasaulinio karo metais". Istorija (in Lithuanian).
17. Iš nežinios į nežinią: Antrojo pasaulinio karo atbėgėliai Lietuvoje [From one uncertainty to another uncertainty: World War II refugees in Lithuania] (in Lithuanian). Kaunas: National M.K. Čiurlionis Art Museum. 2015. ISBN 978-9955-471-55-4.
18. "Resident population by city / town at the middle of the year". Vilnius. Statistics Department of Lithuania. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
19. "Resident population on 1 January". osp.stat.gov.lt. 2024-01-22.
20. Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. – Вильна [First general census of the Russian Empire in 1897 – Vilna] (in Russian).
21. ^ Srebrakowski 2000, p. 129.
22. Brensztejn 1919, p. 24.
23. "Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Miasto Wilno" [Second general population census of 9.12.1931. Vilnius city] (in Polish).
24. Srebrakowski 2020, p. 47.
25. Snyder, Timothy (2003). The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999. Yale University Press. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-0-300-10586-5.
26. "Gyventojai [Population]" (PDF). Statistics Department of Lithuania. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2012.
27. Lietuvos gyventojai 2011 metais (2011 m. gyventojų surašymo rezultatai / Lithuanian 2011 Population Census in Brief) [Population of Lithuania in 2011 (Population Census 2011 results)]. Statistics Department of Lithuania. ISBN 978-9955-797-17-3. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
28. "Rodiklių duomenų bazė - Oficialiosios statistikos portalas". Osp.stat.gov.lt. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
29. Lietuvos Respublikos 2011 m. gyventojų surašymo rezultatai, 162-163 p.
30. Vilnius city elderships by the area
31. Vilnius elderships by the number of inhabitants

Works cited

• Brensztejn, Michał (1919). Spisy ludności m. Wilna za okupacji niemieckiej od d. 1 listopada 1915 r. (in Polish). Warsaw.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Srebrakowski, Aleksander (2000). Polacy w Litewskiej SRR 1944-1989. Toruń.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Srebrakowski, Aleksander (2020). "The nationality panorama of Vilnius". Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. LV (3).

• Geography of Vilnius
• History of Vilnius
• Demographics of Lithuania
• Demographics by city