# Demographics of Vilnius

Vilnius 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 and an influx of Ukrainian refugees to Lithuania, 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 rose from 10 thousand to 29 thousand between 2021 and 2023. The number of persons born in Belarus rose from 25 thousand to 37 thousand during the same period mostly as a consequence of 2020–2021 Belarusian protests and intensified fleeing abroad of its citizens. Also, numbers of persons, who settle in Vilnius, coming from Central Asia, Caucasus, African, Asian (most notably - India) countries are on the rise.
In 2023-2024 a surge of migrants from Central Asia and India was observed. The number of economic migrants in Lithuania from Uzbekistan rose from 1.8 thousand to almost 10 thousand, from Kyrgyzstan – from less than 2 thousand to more than 6.6 thousand, from Tajikistan – from 1.4 thousand to 6.3 thousand, from India – from 1.2 thousand to 5.2 thousand. Most of these migrants settled in Vilnius.
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 Vilnius 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.

## Evolution

Demographic evolution of Vilnius between 1766 and 2024:
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
| 1766 | 60,000 | — |
| 1796¹ | 17,500 | −4.02% |
| 1800 | 25,400 | +9.76% |
| 1811 | 56,300 | +7.50% |
| 1818² | 33,600 | −7.11% |
| 1822 | 43,900 | +6.91% |
| 1830 | 42,000 | −0.55% |
| 1834 | 52,400 | +5.69% |
| 1836 | 56,100 | +3.47% |
| 1839 | 54,700 | −0.84% |
| 1846 | 54,200 | −0.13% |
| 1852 | 65,400 | +3.18% |
| 1860 | 60,000 | −1.07% |
| 1870 | 64,200 | +0.68% |
| 1875 | 82,700 | +5.19% |
| 1885 | 102,900 | +2.21% |
| 1897 | 154,532 | +3.45% |
| 1909 | 205,200 | +2.39% |
| 1911 | 238,600 | +7.83% |
| 1916 | 140,800 | −10.01% |
| 1919³ | 128,500 | −3.00% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
| 1923 | 167,400 | +6.83% |
| 1931 | 195,100 | +1.93% |
| 1939 | 209,400 | +0.89% |
| 1941⁴ | 270,000 | +13.55% |
| 1944⁵ | 110,000 | −25.87% |
| 1959 | 236,100 | +5.22% |
| 1970 | 372,100 | +4.22% |
| 1979 | 481,000 | +2.89% |
| 1985 | 544,400 | +2.09% |
| 1989 | 576,700 | +1.45% |
| 1990 | 597,000 | +3.52% |
| 1992 | 644,600 | +3.91% |
| 1995 | 578,327 | −3.55% |
| 1996 | 571,164 | −1.24% |
| 1997 | 565,881 | −0.92% |
| 1998 | 562,353 | −0.62% |
| 1999 | 558,816 | −0.63% |
| 2000 | 554,281 | −0.81% |
| 2001 | 550,924 | −0.61% |
| 2002 | 550,213 | −0.13% |
| 2003 | 548,729 | −0.27% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
| 2004 | 546,773 | −0.36% |
| 2005 | 542,525 | −0.78% |
| 2006 | 541,732 | −0.15% |
| 2007 | 541,596 | −0.03% |
| 2008 | 542,969 | +0.25% |
| 2009 | 543,191 | +0.04% |
| 2010 | 536,127 | −1.30% |
| 2011 | 533,279 | −0.53% |
| 2012 | 537,152 | +0.73% |
| 2013 | 539,707 | +0.48% |
| 2014 | 542,626 | +0.54% |
| 2015 | 543,493 | +0.16% |
| 2016 | 545,280 | +0.33% |
| 2017 | 547,484 | +0.40% |
| 2018 | 552,131 | +0.85% |
| 2019 | 561,836 | +1.76% |
| 2020 | 569,729 | +1.40% |
| 2021 | 563,012 | −1.18% |
| 2022 | 576,195 | +2.34% |
| 2023 | 593,250 | +2.96% |
| 2024 | 605,270 | +2.03% |
Source:$^{:214,303}$
¹ Sharp decline after the Vilnius uprising (1794); ² Decline of population due to Napoleonic wars and the aftermath; ³ Sharp decline of population of Vilnius because of World War I and the aftermath during the clashes around Vilnius. These resulted in evacuation of Russian military, bureaucracy and the majority of its Russian inhabitants from Vilnius in 1915, as well as fleeing or evacuation of other Vilnius inhabitants of various communities (mostly Jewish and Lithuanian) to Russia and rural parts of Lithuania; ⁴ Rise of population due to influx of Polish and Jewish war refugees and migration of Lithuanian bureaucracy, students from temporary capital Kaunas and other localities in Lithuania; ⁵ Sharp decline of population after atrocities of World War II and The Holocaust :

## Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity

| Year | Lithuanians | Lithuanians | Poles | Poles | Russians | Russians | Jews | Jews | Others | Others | Total |
| 1897* | 3,131 | 2% | 47,795 | 31% | 30,967 | 20% | 61,847 | 40% | 10,792 | 7% | 154,532 |
| 1916 | 3,669 | 2.6% | 70,629 | 50.1% | 2,080 | 1.5% | 61,265 | 43.5% | 3,217 | 2.3% | 140,840 |
| 1917 | 2,909 | 2.1% | 74,466 | 53.65% | 2,212 | 1.6% | 57,516 | 41.44% | 1,872 | 0.77% | 138,787 |
| 1919 | 2,900 | 2.3% | 72,067 | 56.1% | 4,049 | 3.2% | 46,506 | 36.2% | 2,954 | 2.3% | 128,476 |
| 1923 | 1,445 | 0.9% | 100,830 | 60.2% | 4,669 | 2.8% | 56,168 | 33.5% | 4,342 | 2.6% | 167,454 |
| 1931* | 1,579 | 0.8% | 128,628 | 65.9% | 7,372 | 3.8% | 54,596 | 28% | 1,159 | 0.6% | 195,071 |
| 1941 | 52,370 | 28.1% | 94,511 | 50.7% | 6.712 | 3.6% | 30,179 | 16.2% | 2,541 | 1.4% | 186,313 |
| 1942 | 29,480 | 20.5% | 103,203 | 71.9% | 6,012 | 2% | - | - | 1,220 | 0.4% | 143,498 |
| 1951 | 55,300 | 30.8% | 37,700 | 21% | 59,700 | 33.3% | 5,500 | 3.1% | 21,100 | 11.8% | 179,300 |
| 1959 | 79,363 | 33.6% | 47,226 | 20% | 69,416 | 29.4% | 16,354 | 6.9% | 23,719 | 10% | 236,078 |
| 1970 | 159,156 | 42.8% | 68,261 | 18.6% | 91,004 | 24.5% | 16,491 | 4.4% | 37,188 | 10% | 372,100 |
| 1979 | 225,137 | 47.3% | 85,562 | 18% | 105,618 | 22.2% | 10,723 | 2.3% | 48,785 | 10.3% | 475,825 |
| 1989 | 291,527 | 50.5% | 108,239 | 18.8% | 116,618 | 20.2% | 9,109 | 1.6% | 51,524 | 8.9% | 576,747 |
| 2001 | 318,510 | 57.5% | 104,446 | 18.9% | 77,698 | 14.1% | 2,770 | 0.5% | 50,480 | 9.1% | 553,904 |
| 2011 | 337,000 | 63.2% | 88,380 | 16.5% | 64,275 | 12% | 2,026 | 0.4% | 45,976 | 8.6% | 535,631 |
| 2021 | 373,511 | 67.1% | 85,438 | 15.4% | 53,886 | 9.7% | N/A | N/A | 43,655 | 7.8% | 556,490 |
*By language spoken
Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity :
| | Number of inhabitants |
| Lithuanians | 338,758 |
| Poles | 88,408 |
| Russians | 63,991 |
| Belarusians | 18,924 |
| Ukrainians | 5,338 |
| Jews | 2,026 |
| Tatars | 934 |
| Roma | 619 |
| Armenians | 435 |
| Latvians | 360 |
| Germans | 341 |
| Other | 2,065 |
| Refused to answer | 13,432 |
| Total | 535,631 |
Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity :
| | Number of inhabitants |
| Lithuanians | 373,513 |
| Poles | 85,436 |
| Russians | 53,887 |
| Belarusians | 15,156 |
| Ukrainians | 4,687 |
| Other | 5,705 |
| Refused to answer | 18,112 |
| Total | 556,490 |

## Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth

Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (as of March 2023) :
| Country of birth | Number of inhabitants |
| Lithuania | 522,481 |
| Belarus | 37,197 |
| Ukraine | 29,336 |
| Russia | 20,834 |
| Great Britain | 2,330 |
| Kazakhstan | 1,938 |
| Latvia | 1,393 |
| Germany | 1,089 |
| Uzbekistan | 941 |
| Azerbaijan | 931 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 766 |
| Poland | 757 |
| Georgia | 688 |
| United States of America | 683 |
| India | 624 |
| Tajikistan | 540 |
| Turkey | 519 |
| Moldova | 510 |
| Ireland | 469 |
| Italy | 388 |
| Norway | 387 |
| Armenia | 380 |
| Estonia | 379 |
| France | 367 |
| Spain | 253 |
| China | 245 |
| Nigeria | 216 |
| Belgium | 209 |
| Denmark | 207 |
| Turkmenistan | 179 |
| Netherlands | 179 |
| Syria | 177 |
| Afghanistan | 170 |
| Cameroon | 151 |
| Sweden | 147 |
| Pakistan | 144 |
| Iran | 139 |
| Egypt | 125 |
| Israel | 103 |
| Finland | 96 |
| Hungary | 88 |
| Canada | 81 |
| Portugal | 81 |
| Brazil | 79 |
| Lebanon | 78 |
| Switzerland | 77 |
| Czech Republic | 74 |
| Austria | 70 |
| Thailand | 69 |
| Vietnam | 64 |
| United Arab Emirates | 59 |
| Argentina | 57 |
| Greece | 56 |
| Mexico | 56 |
| Australia | 54 |
| Romania | 49 |
| Bulgaria | 47 |
| Cyprus | 45 |
| Japan | 44 |
| South Korea | 37 |
| Serbia | 36 |
| Colombia | 35 |
| Iceland | 35 |
| Morocco | 35 |
| South Africa | 35 |
| Slovakia | 34 |
| Venezuela | 32 |
| Iraq | 30 |
| Nepal | 30 |
| Luxembourg | 28 |
| Indonesia | 27 |
| Tunisia | 25 |
| Saudi Arabia | 24 |
| Bangladesh | 22 |
| Ghana | 22 |
| Mongolia | 22 |
| Albania | 20 |
| Algeria | 20 |
| Eritrea | 20 |
| Other countries | 421 |
Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (2021) :
| Country of birth | Number of inhabitants |
| Lithuania | 517,936 |
| Belarus | 25,591 |
| Russia | 18,731 |
| Ukraine | 10,158 |
| Great Britain | 2,239 |
| Kazakhstan | 1,598 |
| Latvia | 1,335 |
| Germany | 954 |
| Poland | 752 |
| United States of America | 618 |
| Uzbekistan | 578 |
| Azerbaijan | 496 |
| Georgia | 474 |
| Ireland | 470 |
| India | 408 |
| Moldova | 384 |
| Italy | 378 |
| Estonia | 373 |
| Norway | 364 |
| France | 341 |
| Turkey | 329 |
| Armenia | 316 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 297 |
| China | 283 |
| Spain | 254 |
| Tajikistan | 209 |
| Belgium | 189 |
| Denmark | 187 |
| Turkmenistan | 153 |
| Netherlands | 149 |
| Sweden | 140 |
| Nigeria | 122 |
| Iran | 120 |
| Cameroon | 114 |
| Syria | 109 |
| Serbia | 98 |
| Finland | 97 |
| Egypt | 91 |
| Israel | 87 |
| Pakistan | 79 |
| Vietnam | 79 |
| Hungary | 77 |
| Portugal | 73 |
| Austria | 70 |
| Canada | 70 |
| Switzerland | 67 |
| Czech Republic | 67 |
| Brazil | 64 |
| Afghanistan | 51 |
| Lebanon | 51 |
| Australia | 50 |
| Thailand | 49 |
| Greece | 46 |
| Mexico | 45 |
| Argentina | 44 |
| Bulgaria | 44 |
| United Arab Emirates | 41 |
| Japan | 40 |
| South Korea | 36 |
| Cyprus | 31 |
| Luxembourg | 28 |
| Iceland | 27 |
| Slovakia | 27 |
| Colombia | 26 |
| Romania | 26 |
| Nepal | 24 |
| Albania | 23 |
| Iraq | 23 |
| Morocco | 22 |
| Other countries | 500 |

## Elderships of Vilnius

Population figures of Vilnius by the city eldership (2021) :
| Eldership | Area km² | Inhabitants | Density per km² |
| Verkiai | 56 | 50,881 | 909 |
| Žirmūnai | 5.7 | 43,880 | 7698 |
| Pašilaičiai | 7.9 | 41,218 | 5217 |
| Antakalnis | 77.2 | 40,875 | 530 |
| Naujoji Vilnia | 38.6 | 39,102 | 1013 |
| Fabijoniškės | 5.9 | 38,027 | 9275 |
| Naujamiestis | 4.9 | 33,206 | 6777 |
| Lazdynai | 9.9 | 32,410 | 3274 |
| Naujininkai | 37.6 | 31,697 | 843 |
| Šeškinė | 4.6 | 29,809 | 6480 |
| Pilaitė | 13.9 | 28,335 | 2038 |
| Justiniškės | 3.0 | 26,684 | 8895 |
| Karoliniškės | 3.7 | 25,250 | 6824 |
| Senamiestis | 4.4 | 22,411 | 5093 |
| Vilkpėdė | 10.8 | 19,519 | 1807 |
| Šnipiškės | 3.1 | 15,750 | 5081 |
| Viršuliškės | 2.6 | 14,096 | 5422 |
| Žvėrynas | 2.6 | 13,703 | 5270 |
| Rasos | 16.3 | 11,666 | 716 |
| Grigiškės | 7.0 | 11,246 | 1607 |
| Paneriai | 84.8 | 10,537 | 124 |
| Undeclared inhabitants | | 9,123 | |
| Total | 400.5 | 589,425 | 1472 |