Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

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.

Current Demographics

After the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

and an influx of Ukrainian refugees to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, 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 Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

rose from 10 thousand to 29 thousand between 2021 and 2023. The number of persons born in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

rose from 25 thousand to 37 thousand during the same period mostly as a consequence of

2020–2021 Belarusian protests The 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of mass Demonstration (political), political demonstrations and protests against the Government of Belarus, Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government ...

and intensified fleeing abroad of its citizens. Also, numbers of persons, who settle in Vilnius, coming from

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n (most notably -

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

) countries are on the rise.Statistics of Vilnius
/ref> In 2023-2024 a surge of migrants from

and

was observed. The number of economic migrants in Lithuania from

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

rose from 1.8 thousand to almost 10 thousand, from

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

– from less than 2 thousand to more than 6.6 thousand, from

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

– from 1.4 thousand to 6.3 thousand, from

– from 1.2 thousand to 5.2 thousand. Most of these migrants settled in

. 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

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.Vilniaus miesto darnaus judumo plano santrauka, Vilniaus planas, page 48
/ref>

Evolution

Demographic evolution of Vilnius between 1766 and 2024:

Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity

*By language spoken

Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth

Elderships of Vilnius

Notes

References

Works cited

* * * {{Cite journal , last=Srebrakowski , first=Aleksander , date=2020 , title=The nationality panorama of Vilnius , url=https://apcz.umk.pl/SDR/article/view/SDR.2020.EN5.02/27051 , journal=Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej , volume=LV , issue=3 Geography of Vilnius History of Vilnius Demographics of Lithuania