From time immemorial, the Baltic States has been a territory for which wars were often waged. It is not surprising that only in the last 500 years it has passed from hand to hand many times, and many nations have always lived on the territory of the states that were located here.
Lithuania is no exception. Of course, the population of Lithuania was almost always represented mainly by the titular nation, but other peoples lived there permanently. To date, the situation is similar. In this article you will find information about how the composition and population of the territory of this state has changed.
Since ancient times ...
They tried to conduct the first census in these parts as far back as the 13th century, but it ended with practically nothing, since the data collected were very approximate. Only in 1790, a normal census company was conducted, according to the results of which it turned out that about 3.6 million people lived in the territory of modern Lithuania. From 1812 to 1945, the population of Lithuania decreased by about 30%.
Early 19th century
In 1897, another population assessment was carried out. According to its results, it turned out that about 1,924,400 people lived in Lithuania at that time. At that time, this result was very impressive.
Oddly enough, but at that time in the territory of Lithuania the Lithuanians themselves were few. Their share at that time was only 61.6%. In addition, at least 13% of Jews, 9% of Poles, about 5% of Russians, and a similar number of Belarusians and Germans lived in the country. The number of Latvians was less than one and a half percent, and the proportion of Tatars did not at all exceed the 0.2% mark.
Even more interesting is the fact that in any major city the number of Lithuanians as a percentage was even lower. So, in Vilnius lived no more than 41% of Jews, at least 30% of Poles, and the share of Russians and Belarusians was about 24%. Lithuanians themselves in the city lived no more than 2% of the total population.
In Kovno, the situation was about the same: Jews accounted for approximately 35%, the number of Russians, Belarusians and Poles was 36%, Lithuanians were 6.6%. All the rest are Germans. By the way, in Klaipeda almost the entire population was German. This is due to the fact that this part of East Prussia became part of Lithuania only at the end of the 18th century. Only in the Suvalki province did the number of Lithuanian population reach 72%.
Ethnogenesis Notes
We hasten to note that at that time the process of ethnogenesis was still going by leaps and bounds: in addition to the 1 210 000 Lithuanians themselves, 448 thousand Zhmudins lived in the Russian Empire. Without them, the indigenous population of Lithuania was only 44%. This contrasts sharply with the data of frankly populist statements of some Baltic politicians about the "centuries-old quantitative superiority of the Lithuanian population."
Early 20th century
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the situation with “indigenous” peoples was compounded even more.
By 1914, the share of the Russian population grew to 6%, while the number of Lithuanians fell immediately to 54% in percentage terms. In the eastern part of the country, their share fell to 30%. The situation changed only after World War I, when more than 300 thousand Russian-speaking residents emigrated en masse from the country. In addition, in those years there was a significant influx of Lithuanians from other countries, which was associated with the creation of an independent Republic of Lithuania.
Before World War II
In 1923, the population of Lithuania was already 2,028,971 people. Compared to 1897, the share of Lithuanians themselves has grown to 84-85%. The number of Jews has almost halved, reaching 7.5% (153,473 people). Poles in the state already lived 3.2%, or 65 599 people, only 2.5% Russians (50 460 people), the number of Germans rapidly (due to deportations and terror) fell to 1.4% (29 231) , Belarusians left no more than 0.2% (4421). Other nationalities in those years, there were about 8771 people.
Thus, the composition of the population of Lithuania at that time was very multinational.
Other changes in national composition
In Kaunas, which became the capital of an independent republic, even more fundamental changes took place. So, Poles and Russians, who before that were almost the backbone of the urban population, were almost gone (less than 8 thousand people). The number of Germans was 3.5%, Jews became 27.1% (25 041 people). But the number of Lithuanians has grown, amounting to 54 thousand people (59% of the population of the city).
The census in Klaipeda region, which was carried out by local authorities in 1925, showed that the number of Lithuanians does not exceed 26.6% of the total population (no more than 37 626 people). There were many Germans, whose share was about 41.9% (59 337), Memels with their 24.2% (34 337), as well as other nationalities.
Memelts - who are they?
By the way, who are the Memels? To date, a number of prominent historians believe that this term refers to a certain number of people of different (!) Nationalities who did not accept the independence of Lithuania and the formation of the republic. Some historians believe that these are the descendants of Germans from East Prussia, who did not assimilate after the transfer of their lands to Lithuania, did not accept the language and customs of the Baltic states.
Most likely, this is indeed so, because almost all ethnographers note the fact that in the places inhabited by Memelians, the tremendous influence of German culture and language was felt. Thus, when calculating the population in Lithuania of those years, these nuances should be kept in mind. It is likely that the actual share of the German population in these regions reached 66% in those years, exceeding the mark of 90 thousand people.
In the Vilnius region there was a similar situation, but with respect to the Poles. The fact is that this land several times passed from Lithuania to Poland, and the Poles deliberately colonized, which implied the maximum crowding out of other nations or their assimilation (most often by force).
Thus, in Lithuania the “model” of the 1920s, the Lithuanians themselves accounted for slightly more than 60% of the total population of these lands. The total population of Lithuania was approaching 1 million 900 thousand (at the beginning of 1930).
From 1939 to 1970
In 1940, Lithuania became
part of the USSR. The reverse process began when the Poles were replaced by the Lithuanian population. During the German occupation, the number of the Polish population began to increase again. So, in 1942, in Vilnius region alone, there were 309,494 Lithuanians, and the number of Poles grew to 324,757 people.
The fate of the Jewish population is sad. Only in Lithuania 136 421 people of this nationality were killed (and this is without taking into account a couple of regions). No more than 20 thousand people survived. The 1959 census, according to which only 24,672 Jews remained in Lithuania, also testifies to this.
German statistics from 1937 totaled 157,527 people belonging to this nationality in the country. Thus, at least 175 thousand Jews were annihilated during the entire German occupation, and by 1941, 225 thousand of them lived in Lithuania.
On post-war agreements
In 1945-1946, 178 thousand Poles were expelled from the country. If we take the period from 1945 to 1950, half of the Polish population left Lithuania. If we talk about re-Russification, even Lithuanian researchers admit that during the Soviet era it proceeded very slowly, slightly changing the national composition of the state. So, in 1959-1989 the number of Russians increased only to 9.4%, and part of Belarusians and Ukrainians made up 1.2% of the total population.
By 1991, the number of Lithuanians was approaching 79.6%, and the population of Lithuania was 3 million 666 thousand people. If we talk about the general trend of the Union republics, Lithuania was almost the only example of how the number of the titular nation increased: even the number of Russians in the central regions of the RSFSR fell to 81%, although it was 85%.
New time
So what population in Lithuania dominated (significantly) at the time of the collapse of the USSR? Of course, Lithuanian. With this simple argument, Russian researchers have been trying for several years to convince their Baltic colleagues that there was no "occupation". However, so far without much success.
How did the population of Lithuania change after the death of the USSR ? The dynamics are extremely deplorable. Immediately after 1991-1993, more than 300 thousand Russians left its territory. If by 1991 almost four million people lived in the country, today the population has decreased by almost one and a half times!
It is not surprising that the population of Lithuania for 2014 is 2 million 900 thousand people. It seems to be not so little. Although there is one “but”. The fact is that the government of the country adds to this number almost all Lithuanians from other EU countries, using even Internet voting during the census. Young people are leaving the country en masse, so independent experts agree on one thing: according to unofficial information, the population of Lithuania for 2014 is a maximum of 2 million people.
Most likely, the dynamics of an intensive decline in the population will continue for the coming years.