Demographics of Vilnius

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

[edit]

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and an influx of Ukrainian refugees to Lithuania, who were granted a refugee status[1] 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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

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[5][6] (according to Statistics Lithuania) and 588,412[7] (according to the State Enterprise Centre of Registers). According to the municipality of Vilnius, the city had a population of 597,610[2] 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[8][note 1].

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.[10]

## Evolution

[edit]

Demographic evolution of Vilnius between 1766 and 2024:

Historical population| Year| Pop.| ±% p.a.

|
|

1766| 60,000| —
1796¹| 17,500| −4.02%
1800| 25,400| +9.76%
1811| 56,300| +7.50%
1818²| 33,600| −7.11%
1822| 43,900| +6.91%
1830| 42,000| −0.55%
1834| 52,400| +5.69%
1836| 56,100| +3.47%
1839| 54,700| −0.84%
1846| 54,200| −0.13%
1852| 65,400| +3.18%
1860| 60,000| −1.07%
1870| 64,200| +0.68%
1875| 82,700| +5.19%
1885| 102,900| +2.21%
1897| 154,532| +3.45%
1909| 205,200| +2.39%
1911| 238,600| +7.83%
1916| 140,800| −10.01%
1919³| 128,500| −3.00%
1923| 167,400| +6.83%
| Year| Pop.| ±% p.a.

|
|

1931| 195,100| +1.93%
1939| 209,400| +0.89%
1941⁴| 270,000| +13.55%
1944⁵| 110,000| −25.87%
1959| 236,100| +5.22%
1970| 372,100| +4.22%
1979| 481,000| +2.89%
1985| 544,400| +2.09%
1989| 576,700| +1.45%
1990| 597,000| +3.52%
1992| 644,600| +3.91%
1995| 578,327| −3.55%
1996| 571,164| −1.24%
1997| 565,881| −0.92%
1998| 562,353| −0.62%
1999| 558,816| −0.63%
2000| 554,281| −0.81%
2001| 550,924| −0.61%
2002| 550,213| −0.13%
2003| 548,729| −0.27%
2004| 546,773| −0.36%
2005| 542,525| −0.78%
| Year| Pop.| ±% p.a.

|
|

2006| 541,732| −0.15%
2007| 541,596| −0.03%
2008| 542,969| +0.25%
2009| 543,191| +0.04%
2010| 536,127| −1.30%
2011| 533,279| −0.53%
2012| 537,152| +0.73%
2013| 539,707| +0.48%
2014| 542,626| +0.54%
2015| 543,493| +0.16%
2016| 545,280| +0.33%
2017| 547,484| +0.40%
2018| 552,131| +0.85%
2019| 561,836| +1.76%
2020| 569,729| +1.40%
2021| 563,012| −1.18%
2022| 576,195| +2.34%
2023| 593,250| +2.96%
2024| 605,270| +2.03%
2025| 607,404| +0.35%
Source: [11][12]: 214, 303 [13][14] ¹ Sharp decline after the Vilnius uprising (1794); ² Decline of population due to Napoleonic wars and the aftermath; ³ Sharp decline of population of Vilnius because of World War I and the aftermath during the clashes around Vilnius. These resulted in evacuation of Russian military, bureaucracy and the majority of its Russian inhabitants from Vilnius in 1915, as well as fleeing or evacuation of other Vilnius inhabitants of various communities (mostly Jewish and Lithuanian) to Russia and rural parts of Lithuania;[15][16] ⁴ Rise of population due to influx of Polish and Jewish war refugees[17] and migration of Lithuanian bureaucracy, students from temporary capital Kaunas and other localities in Lithuania; ⁵ Sharp decline of population after atrocities of World War II and The Holocaust[18][19]

## Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity

[edit]

Year  | Lithuanians  | Poles  | Russians  | Jews  | Others  | Total

|
|
|
|
|
|

1897[20]*  | 3,131  | 2%  | 47,795  | 31%  | 30,967  | 20%  | 61,847  | 40% | 10,792  | 7%  | 154,532
1916[21]*  |  3,669  | 2.6%  |  70,629  | 50.1% |  2,080  | 1.5%  |  61,265  | 43.5%  |  3,217  | 2.3%  |  140,840
1917[22]*  |  2,909  | 2.1%  |  74,466  | 53.65% |  2,212  | 1.6%  |  57,516  | 41.44%  |  1,872  | 0.77%  |  138,787
1919[21]*  |  2,900  | 2.3%  |  72,067  | 56.1% |  4,049  | 3.2%  |  46,506  | 36.2%  |  2,954  | 2.3%  |  128,476
1923[21]*  |  1,445  | 0.9%  |  100,830  | 60.2% |  4,669  | 2.8%  |  56,168  | 33.5%  |  4,342  | 2.6%  |  167,454
1931[23]*  |  1,579  | 0.8%  |  128,628  | 65.9% |  7,372  | 3.8%  |  54,596  | 28%  |  1,159  | 0.6%  |  195,071
1941[24] |  52,370  | 28.1%  |  94,511  | 50.7% |  6.712  | 3.6%  |  30,179  | 16.2%  |  2,541  | 1.4%  |  186,313
1942[21] |  29,480  | 20.5%  |  103,203  | 71.9% |  6,012  | 2%  | \-  | \-  |  1,220  | 0.4%  |  143,498
1951[21] |  55,300  | 30.8%  |  37,700  | 21%  |  59,700  | 33.3% |  5,500  | 3.1%  |  21,100  | 11.8%  |  179,300
1959[25] |  79,363  | 33.6% |  47,226  | 20%  |  69,416  | 29.4%  |  16,354  | 6.9%  |  23,719  | 10%  |  236,078
1970[21] |  159,156  | 42.8% |  68,261  | 18.6%  |  91,004  | 24.5%  |  16,491  | 4.4%  |  37,188  | 10%  |  372,100
1979[21] |  225,137  | 47.3% |  85,562  | 18%  |  105,618  | 22.2%  |  10,723  | 2.3%  |  48,785  | 10.3%  |  475,825
1989[21] |  291,527  | 50.5% |  108,239  | 18.8%  |  116,618  | 20.2%  |  9,109  | 1.6%  |  51,524  | 8.9%  |  576,747
2001[26] |  318,510  | 57.5% |  104,446  | 18.9%  |  77,698  | 14.1%  |  2,770  | 0.5%  |  50,480  | 9.1%  |  553,904
2011[27] |  337,000  | 63.2% |  88,380  | 16.5%  |  64,275  | 12%  |  2,026  | 0.4%  |  45,976  | 8.6%  |  535,631
2021[28] |  373,511  | 67.1% |  85,438  | 15.4%  |  53,886  | 9.7%  | N/A  |  43,655  | 7.8%  |  556,490

*By language spoken

Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity  (results of the 2011 census)[29] | Number of inhabitants

|

Lithuanians | 338,758
Poles | 88,408
Russians | 63,991
Belarusians | 18,924
Ukrainians | 5,338
Jews | 2,026
Tatars | 934
Roma | 619
Armenians | 435
Latvians | 360
Germans | 341
Other | 2,065
Refused to answer | 13,432
Total | 535,631
Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity  (results of the 2021 census)  | Number of inhabitants

|

Lithuanians | 373,513
Poles | 85,436
Russians | 53,887
Belarusians | 15,156
Ukrainians | 4,687
Other | 5,705
Refused to answer | 18,112
Total | 556,490

## Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth

[edit]

Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (as of February 2025)[2] Country of birth | Number of inhabitants

|

Lithuania | 526,409
Belarus | 38,797
Russia | 19,833
Ukraine | 19,827
Great Britain | 2,479
Kazakhstan | 2,158
Uzbekistan | 2,080
Azerbaijan | 1,857
Tajikistan | 1,840
India | 1,719
Turkey | 1,485
Latvia | 1,435
Germany | 1,097
Kyrgyzstan | 1,072
Georgia | 989
Poland | 784
United States of America | 778
Pakistan | 768
Moldova | 564
Ireland | 490
Italy | 455
Norway | 432
France | 400
Estonia | 399
Nigeria | 374
Armenia | 354
Bangladesh | 329
China | 290
Spain | 288
Cameroon | 249
Morocco | 244
Denmark | 225
Belgium | 223
Egypt | 217
Netherlands | 206
Iran | 203
Turkmenistan | 167
Afghanistan | 164
Sweden | 156
Syria | 151
Israel | 116
Algeria | 107
Philippines | 100
Canada | 96
Portugal | 94
Lebanon | 94
Hungary | 93
Brazil | 92
Switzerland | 90
Finland | 88
Thailand | 84
Argentina | 81
Vietnam | 80
United Arab Emirates | 77
Austria | 77
Greece | 77
Sri Lanka | 77
Nepal | 76
Mexico | 74
Czech Republic | 64
Ghana | 64
Australia | 61
Japan | 61
Romania | 57
Bulgaria | 56
Colombia | 55
Kenya | 50
Venezuela | 46
South Korea | 45
Iceland | 44
South Africa | 44
Cyprus | 41
Iraq | 39
Serbia | 37
Saudi Arabia | 38
Slovakia | 37
Tunisia | 36
Luxembourg | 28
Indonesia | 28
Albania | 26
Cuba | 26
Zimbabwe | 25
Mongolia | 24
Malta | 23
Peru | 22
Croatia | 20
Democratic Republic of the Congo | 19
Jordan | 19
North Macedonia | 18
Ecuador | 17
New Zealand | 17
Chile | 15
Singapore | 13
Taiwan | 13
Other countries | 268
Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (as of March 2023)[2] 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)[2] 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

[edit]

Population figures of Vilnius by the city eldership (2021)[2] Eldership | Area
km²[30] | Inhabitants[31] | Density
per km²

|
|
|

Verkiai | 56 | 50,881 | 909
Žirmūnai | 5.7 | 43,880 | 7698
Pašilaičiai | 7.9 | 41,218 | 5217
Antakalnis | 77.2 | 40,875 | 530
Naujoji Vilnia | 38.6 | 39,102 | 1013
Fabijoniškės | 5.9 | 38,027 | 9275
Naujamiestis | 4.9 | 33,206 | 6777
Lazdynai | 9.9 | 32,410 | 3274
Naujininkai | 37.6 | 31,697 | 843
Šeškinė | 4.6 | 29,809 | 6480
Pilaitė | 13.9 | 28,335 | 2038
Justiniškės | 3.0 | 26,684 | 8895
Karoliniškės | 3.7 | 25,250 | 6824
Senamiestis | 4.4 | 22,411 | 5093
Vilkpėdė | 10.8 | 19,519 | 1807
Šnipiškės | 3.1 | 15,750 | 5081
Viršuliškės | 2.6 | 14,096 | 5422
Žvėrynas | 2.6 | 13,703 | 5270
Rasos | 16.3 | 11,666 | 716
Grigiškės | 7.0 | 11,246 | 1607
Paneriai | 84.8 | 10,537 | 124
Undeclared inhabitants |  | 9,123 |
Total | 400.5 | 589,425 | 1472

## See also

[edit]

* Demographic history of the Vilnius region

## Notes

[edit]

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)[9]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ WAR REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE, Statistics of Lithuania
2. ^ a b c d e f 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). Archived from the original on December 20, 2019.
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. ^ a b c d e f g h 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

[edit]

* 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).

*[Pop.]: Population
*[±% p.a.]: Per annum growth rate