Over Past 12 Years Lithuanian Population Shrank By 5 Percent

According to the report of the RIA Novosti correspondent, the Statistics Department of Lithuania reported that judging by the results of the recent general census of population conducted from April 6 through 13 the population of the country shrank by 5 percent compared with the last census of 1989 and constitutes currently 3.496 million people. The reduction of population in the five largest cities of the country amounted to 4-9 percent. Moreover, on April 19 in his annual report Valdas Adamkus, President of Lithuania, reported that in the past several years about 230,000 people, mostly young people, emigrated from the country. This figure constitutes more than 10 percent of taxpayers. The first official population census results in Lithuania will be made public in October this year.

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