Mass emigration sees Lithuanian population drop below three million

According to official figures, the population of Lithuania has dropped below the three million mark and is now at its lowest level in decades. The main reason for the Baltic state’s loss of citizens is emigration to other European countries in search of a better quality of life.

A national census conducted by Lithuania’s statistics office found that the country had a population of 3.04 million in March 2011. This figure has since dropped to 2.98 million.

According to the research, around half of the 53,863 people who left Lithuania in 2011 travelled to the UK. Analysts are worried that if the exodus continues it will damage Lithuania’s economy. According to Romas Latzuka, an economist at Vilnius University, the population of the country will continue to age more quickly as greater numbers of younger people decide to cross the border into Europe.

He went as far as to say that the emigration figures represented a national disaster. Many Lithuanian’s are attracted to the UK because it was one of the only countries, along with Sweden and Ireland, that opened its labour market to the eight ex-communist states allowed into the EU in 2004.

Latzuka predicts that the rate of emigration is unlikely to decline, even though many European nations are experiencing economic slowdown. He explained that colonies which have been established abroad means that it is easier for Lithuanians to settle.