Analytics, Demography, EU – Baltic States, Lithuania, Society

Lithuania had 2.889 million residents at the beginning of 2016, indicating a drop by 32,700 year-on-year.

The drop in the population was due to two reasons: 70% of the overall decrease was caused by international migration, while the remaining 30% by natural population replacement.

In 2015, 25,500 men and 21,000 women emigrated from Lithuania. As compared with 2014, the number of male emigrants increased by a factor of 1.4, while that of female went up by a factor of 1.2.

One in three male emigrants were in the 19–26 age group and one in five was between 27 and 34 years of age.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius has said that emigration numbers were boosted by the reintroduction of recruitment to military service, a statement that drew critical remarks from the opposition.

Vilija Lapeniene, the director of the Statistics Department, told journalists that causes behind emigration could not be specified.

"We do not survey the reasons behind emigration and we do not have this information. Yes, emigration numbers were higher last April, however, the 19-26 age group accounts for the biggest part of emigrants – they mainly go to study or look for jobs," she said at a news conference.

Last year's immigration numbers dropped by 700 (2.9%) year-on-year.