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 statusWAR REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE, Statistics of Lithuania the number of inhabitants of Vilnius rose to 643,513 as of April 2026 (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.Statistics of Vilnius

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.Lietuvoje mažėja ukrainiečių, kartais auga atvykusiųjų iš Vidurinės Azijos

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.Number of foreigners living in Lithuania surpasses 200,000

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 588,412State Enterprise Centre of Registers of Lithuania (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.Vilniaus miesto darnaus judumo plano santrauka, Vilniaus planas, page 48

Evolution Demographic evolution of Vilnius between 1766 and 2026:

Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity

YearLithuaniansPolesRussiansJewsOthersTotal1897*3,1312%47,79531%30,96720%61,84740%10,7927%154,5321916* 3,6692.6% 70,62950.1% 2,0801.5% 61,26543.5% 3,2172.3% 140,8401917* 2,9092.1% 74,46653.65% 2,2121.6% 57,51641.44% 1,8720.77% 138,7871919* 2,9002.3% 72,06756.1% 4,0493.2% 46,50636.2% 2,9542.3% 128,4761923* 1,4450.9% 100,83060.2% 4,6692.8% 56,16833.5% 4,3422.6% 167,4541931* 1,5790.8% 128,62865.9% 7,3723.8% 54,59628% 1,1590.6% 195,0711941 52,37028.1% 94,51150.7% 6.7123.6% 30,17916.2% 2,5411.4% 186,3131942 29,48020.5% 103,20371.9% 6,0122%N/A 1,2200.4% 143,4981951 55,30030.8% 37,70021% 59,70033.3% 5,5003.1% 21,10011.8% 179,3001959 79,36333.6% 47,22620% 69,41629.4% 16,3546.9% 23,71910% 236,0781970 159,15642.8% 68,26118.6% 91,00424.5% 16,4914.4% 37,18810% 372,1001979 225,13747.3% 85,56218% 105,61822.2% 10,7232.3% 48,78510.3% 475,8251989 291,52750.5% 108,23918.8% 116,61820.2% 9,1091.6% 51,5248.9% 576,7472001 318,51057.5% 104,44618.9% 77,69814.1% 2,7700.5% 50,4809.1% 553,9042011 337,00063.2% 88,38016.5% 64,27512% 2,0260.4% 45,9768.6% 535,6312021 373,51167.1% 85,43815.4% 53,8869.7%N/A 43,6557.8% 556,490*By language spoken

+ Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity +(results of the 2011 census)Lietuvos Respublikos 2011 m. gyventojų surašymo rezultatai, 162-163 p. Number of inhabitants Lithuanians 338,758 Poles 88,408 Russians 63,991 Belarusians 18,924 Ukrainians 5,338 Jews2,026 Tatars934Roma619Armenians435Latvians360Germans341Other2,065Refused to answer13,432Total535,631

+ Vilnius inhabitants by ethnicity +(results of the 2021 census) Number of inhabitants Lithuanians 373,513 Poles 85,436 Russians 53,887 Belarusians 15,156 Ukrainians 4,687 Other5,705Refused to answer18,112Total556,490

Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth

+ Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (as of February 2025) Country of birth Number of inhabitants 526,409 38,797 19,833 19,827 2,479 2,158 2,080 1,857 1,840 1,719 1,485 1,435 1,097 1,072 989 784 778 768 564 490 455 432 400 399 374 354 329 290 288 249 244 225 223 217 206 203 167 164 156 151 116 107 100 96 94 94 93 92 90 88 84 81 80 77 77 77 77 76 74 64 64 61 61 57 56 55 50 46 45 44 44 41 39 37 38 37 36 28 28 26 26 25 24 23 22 20 19 19 18 17 17 15 13 13 Other countries 268

+ Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (as of March 2023) Country of birth Number of inhabitants 522,481 37,197 29,336 20,834 2,330 1,938 1,393 1,089 941 931 766 757 688 683 624 540 519 510 469 388 387 380 379 367 253 245 216 209 207 179 179 177 170 151 147 144 139 125 103 96 88 81 81 79 78 77 74 70 69 64 59 57 56 56 54 49 47 45 44 37 36 35 35 35 35 34 32 30 30 28 27 25 24 22 22 22 20 20 20 Other countries 421

+ Vilnius inhabitants by the country of birth (2021) Country of birth Number of inhabitants 517,936 25,591 18,731 10,158 2,239 1,598 1,335 954 752 618 578 496 474 470 408 384 378 373 364 341 329 316 297 283 254 209 189 187 153 149 140 122 120 114 109 98 97 91 87 79 79 77 73 70 70 67 67 64 51 51 50 49 46 45 44 44 41 40 36 31 28 27 27 26 26 24 23 23 22 Other countries 500

Elderships of Vilnius

+ Population figures of Vilnius by the city eldership (2021) Eldership Area km²Vilnius city elderships by the area InhabitantsVilnius elderships by the number of inhabitants Density per km²Verkiai5650,881Žirmūnai5.743,880Pašilaičiai7.941,218Antakalnis77.240,875Naujoji Vilnia38.639,102Fabijoniškės5.938,027Naujamiestis4.933,206Lazdynai9.932,410Naujininkai37.631,697Šeškinė4.629,809Pilaitė13.928,335Justiniškės3.026,684Karoliniškės3.725,250Senamiestis4.422,411Vilkpėdė10.819,519Šnipiškės3.115,750Viršuliškės2.614,096Žvėrynas2.613,703Rasos16.311,666Grigiškės7.011,246Paneriai84.810,537Undeclared inhabitants9,123Total400.5589,425

See also Demographic history of the Vilnius region

Notes

References

Works cited