Analytics, Demography, Lithuania, Statistics

• In 2018, 32.2 thousand residents emigrated from Lithuania. Compared to 2017, the number of emigrants decreased 1.5 times, or by 15.7 thousand.
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• In 2018, the number of emigrants exceeded that of immigrants by 3.3 thousand. This is the lowest net international migration indicator since 1990.
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Fig. 1. International migration, 1990–2018

Emigration

• In 2018, the number of male and female emigrants amounted to 17 thousand and 15.2 thousand respectively, i.e. the number of male emigrants exceeded that of female emigrants by 1.8 thousand. Over the year, the number of emigrants per 1000 population decreased from 16.9 to 11.5.
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• The majority (72.9 %) of emigrants declared their departure to the EU countries.

• In 2018, most residents of Lithuania chose the following countries as their destination of emigration:
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 The United Kingdom – 12.2 thousand (37.7%), i.e. 1.8 times less than in 2017.

  Germany – 3.2 thousand (9.8%), i.e. by 23.4% less than in 2017.

  Norway – 3 thousand (9.3%), i.e. 1.7 times less than in 2017.

  Ireland – 2 thousand (6.3%), i.e. 1.7 times less than in 2017.

• The majority (83.8%) of emigrants were born in Lithuania, 3.5% – in Ukraine, 3.2% – in Russia, 2.2% – in the United Kingdom, 1.9% – in Belarus.
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• More than half of male (67.2%) and female (57.6%) emigrants aged 18 and older had never been married, a quarter – were married.
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• In 2018, the average age of the male and female emigrants was 26 years.
   

Immigration

• In 2018, the number of male and female immigrants amounted to 20 thousand and 8.9 thousand respectively. Over the year, the number of immigrants per 1000 population increased from 7.2 to 10.3.
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• In 2018, 16.6 thousand of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania returned to Lithuania, which is by 6.4 thousand more than in 2017. More than half (57.1%) of them were men.

• In 2018, the majority of the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who returned to Lithuania came back from:
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  The United Kingdom – 7.6 thousand, or 45.8%.

  Norway – 1.9 thousand, or 11.3%.

  Ireland – 1.2 thousand, or 7.4 %.

  Germany – 1.2 thousand, or 7.3 %.

• Compared to 2017, the number of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who returned from the United Kingdom and Ireland grew 1.5 times, from Norway and Germany – 1.9 times from each.

• In 2018, the average age of male and female citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who returned to Lithuania was 29 and 28 years respectively.
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• In 2018, 12.3 thousand foreigners immigrated to the country (42.6% of all immigrants), which is by 2.1 thousand (20.7%) more than in 2017. The majority (85.3%) of foreigners who immigrated to Lithuania were men.
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• Almost half (5.7 thousand, or 46.5%) of foreigners who immigrated to Lithuania in 2018 were the citizens of Ukraine, 3.3 thousand (26.4%) – Belarus, 780 (6.3%) – the Russian Federation. 
• Over the year, the number of citizens of Ukraine who immigrated to Lithuania grew by 32.1%, Belarus – 20%, the Russian Federation – 18.9 %.

Fig. 2. Citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation who immigrated to Lithuania, 2011–2018

Thousand

More information is available in the Database of Indicators.

Definitions :

Immigrant — a person who has arrived in a country with the intention to stay in the new place for permanent residence, or longer than 6 months. It may also be an alien having a temporary residence permit for a year and longer.