Population pyramid - Lithuania census 1923

The Lithuanian census of 1923 was performed on September 17–23, several years after

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 ...

re-established its independence in 1918. It was mandated by the

Constituent Assembly of Lithuania The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania or Constituent Seimas () was the first parliament of the independent state of Lithuania to be elected in a direct, democratic, general, secret election. The Assembly assumed its duties on 15 May 1920 and was ...

in 1922. The census counted the total population of 2,028,971. It was the only census in

interwar Lithuania In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. The next census was carried out in 1959 as part of the

Soviet census The following is a summary of censuses carried out in the Soviet Union: See also * Russian census * Censuses in Ukraine Notes References {{USSRCensus Demographics of the Soviet Union Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Rep ...

. The census results were organized into "enumeration territories" that followed county borders; of the 24 enumeration territories, four were cities that had been granted county rights (

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

, and Vilkmergė). Populations in the

Vilnius Region Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territory ...

, which had been incorporated into the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, and the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region () or Memel Territory ( or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when, as Memelland, it was put under the administr ...

, annexed by Lithuania in 1923, were not counted. The census cost 605,600

litas The Lithuanian litas (ISO currency code LTL, symbolized as Lt; plural ''litai'' (nominative) or ''litų'' (genitive) was the currency of Lithuania, until 1 January 2015, when it was replaced by the euro. It was divided into 100 centų (geniti ...

. Its 3,100 investigators consisted of civil servants and students enrolled in higher education. The data were transmitted to the Central Bureau of Statistics via telegraph and telephones. Results were published in statistical bulletins during 1924 and 1925, followed by a more public presentation in the Lithuanian and French languages in 1926. The census found that 15.8% lived in towns with populations over 2,000 and about 75% of the population was employed in the agricultural sector. There were 27 cities, 241 towns, and 16,388 villages. 44.1% of the population was illiterate, including 32.6% of those over 10 years of age. A determination of ethnicity was made on the basis of language. The census found the population was 83.9% Lithuanian, 7.6% Jewish, 3.2% Polish, 2.5% Russian, 1.4% German, 0.4% Latvian, 0.2% Belarusian, and 0.8% others. The Polish Election Committee disputed the census' ethnic composition findings, stating that Poles comprised 10% of the population and Lithuanians 76.4%. The higher results were based on votes cast for Polish political candidates in the 1923 Lithuanian elections, which would put the Polish population at about 202,000 or between 9.5 and 10% of the population, if one interprets the election results in a way that anyone who voted for a Polish candidate must necessarily be a Pole.

References

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Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

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European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) , year=2008–2009 , accessdate=2010-02-12 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525003542/http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/eurybase/eurybase_full_reports/LT_EN.pdf , archivedate=2010-05-25 , url-status=dead {{cite book, title=A Guide to the Economies in Transition, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTgC6VtIOFsC&pg=PA303 , first= Ian , last=Jeffries , publisher=

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, page=303 , isbn=9780415136846 , year=1996 {{cite journal, title=The Polish Minority in Lithuania, 1918-1926 , publisher= University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies , first=Vladas , last=Krivickas , journal=Slavonic and East European Review , volume=130 , issue=LIII , pages = 78–91, date=January 1975, jstor = 4206984 {{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fecMC0LXU-sC&pg=PA8 , title=Lithuania: Stepping Westward , first=Thomas , last=Lane , page=9 , publisher=

, year=2001 , isbn=9780415267311 {{cite web , url=http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1546 , publisher=Statistical Department -

Republic of 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 ...

, title=Population Censuses in Lithuania , date=2008-11-09 , accessdate=2010-02-12 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20080301002249/http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1546 , archive-date=2008-03-01 , url-status=dead {{cite web, title=Country Profile of Lithuania - Main statistical agency , url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/docViewer.aspx?docID=615#start , publisher=

United Nations Statistics Division The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), formerly the United Nations Statistical Office, serves under the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) as the central mechanism within the Secretariat of the United Nations ...

, accessdate=2010-02-12 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709235444/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/docViewer.aspx?docID=615 , archivedate=2010-07-09 , url-status=dead {{cite book , last=Vaitiekūnas , first=Stasys , title=Lietuvos gyventojai: Per du tūkstantmečius , year=2006 , publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas , location=Vilnius , isbn=978-5-420-01585-8 , page=130, language=lt {{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueHRten9pX0C&pg=PA31, title=Lithuania: The Rebel Nation, first=Vytas Stanley , last=Vardys , author2=Judith B. Sedaitis , publisher=

Westview Press Westview Press was an American publishing company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado founded in 1975. Field of work Westview primarily publishes textbooks. History Westview Press was founded by Frederick A. Praeger in 1975. Praeger sold ...

, year=1997 , isbn=978-0813318394 , page=31 1923 in Lithuania

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...