Over 600,000 Lithuanians live abroad

The data was generated on the basis of the 2005-2015 census of populations of countries around the globe.

According to the census, 3.663 million Lithuanians live worldwide, including 3.043 million people in Lithuania (83.1 percent) and 619,600 abroad (16.9 percent). Among those living abroad, 257,000 are citizens of Lithuania.

A fifth of all Lithuanians who reside outside Lithuania are based in the United Kingdom, one in seven – in Russia and one in ten – in Poland. Other countries with large Lithuanian populations include Canada (7.9 percent of all Lithuanians living abroad), Germany (7 percent), Ireland (6.4 percent), the United States (5.8 percent) and Latvia (5.6 percent).

“If we tried to define a Lithuanian living abroad it would be a working-age educated person. 33 percent of them have an education. Lithuanians abroad have children, so it means a young generation is growing. The majority of such children are growing up in the United Kingdom,” Vilija Lapenienė, director general of Statistics Lithuania, told a press conference on Friday.

The largest share of children under 14 living abroad is in Ireland, the UK, Sweden, Spain and Norway, the national broadcaster LRT said.

Specialists define Lithuanians living abroad based on four criteria. They are Lithuanian citizens, born in Lithuania, are of Lithuanian nationality and their mother tongue is Lithuanian.

All in all, Statistics Lithuania asked 212 foreign countries for information about Lithuanians living abroad and received data from 118 countries. 82 countries ignored the request and 12 said there were no Lithuanian residents in their countries.

It was the first time that Statistics Lithuania published such comprehensive information about Lithuanians living abroad.