Lithuanians

 ( Balts ) 

There is a current argument that the Lithuanian language was considered non-prestigious enough by some elements in Lithuanian society, meaning that the number of Lithuanian language-speakers decreased with Polonization in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as a Germanisation of Prussia. The subsequent Russian Empire occupation from 1795 until 1915, with some interpositions such as the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Uprisings of 1831 and 1863, accelerated this process of Slavicization. While under Russian occupation, Lithuanians endured Russification, which included the 40-year-long ban on public speaking and writing in Lithuanian (see, e.g., Knygnešiai, the actions against the Catholic Church). In such a context, the Lithuanian National Revival began in the 19th century. Some believed at the time that the Lithuanian nation as such, along with its language, would become extinct within a few generations.

Some of the Polish- and Belarusian-speaking persons from the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania expressed their affiliation with the modern Lithuanian nation in the early 20th century, including Michał Pius Römer, Stanisław Narutowicz, Oscar Milosz and Tadas Ivanauskas

In February 1918, while World War I was ongoing, the re-establishment of an independent Lithuanian state was declared, 122 years after it was destroyed. In the aftermath of World War I, Lithuanians militarily defended their country's independence from Poland, White movement and Soviet Russia during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence. However, a third of Lithuania's lands, namely the Vilnius Region, as well as its declared capital, fell under Polish occupation during the Interwar period. A standardised Lithuanian language was approved. In the lead-up to the World War II, the Klaipėda Region was occupied by Nazi Germany after the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania.

The territory inhabited by the ethnic Lithuanians has shrunk over centuries; once Lithuanians made up a majority of the population not only in what is now Lithuania, but also in northwestern Belarus, in large areas of the territory of the modern Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, and in some parts of modern Latvia and Poland.Glanville Price. Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe, 2000, pp.304–306

In 1940, Lithuania was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union, and forced to join it as the Lithuanian SSR. The Germans and their allies attacked the USSR in June 1941, and from 1941 to 1944, Lithuania was occupied by Germany. The Germans retreated in 1944, and Lithuania fell under Soviet rule once again. The long-standing communities of Lithuanians in the Kaliningrad Oblast ( Lithuania Minor) were almost destroyed as a result.

The Lithuanian nation as such remained primarily in Lithuania, a few villages in northeastern Poland, southern Latvia and also in the diaspora of emigrants. Some indigenous Lithuanians still remain in Belarus and the Kaliningrad Oblast, but their numbers are small compared to what they used to be. Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, and was recognized by most countries in 1991. It became a member of the European Union on 1 May 2004.

Poles are mostly concentrated in the Vilnius County. Especially large Polish communities are located in the Vilnius District Municipality and the Šalčininkai District Municipality.

Despite being the capital, Vilnius was not the largest city by number of Lithuanians until mid-2000s. According to the 2011 census Vilnius had 337,000 Lithuanians while Kaunas had 316,000.

Russians, even though they are almost as numerous as Poles, are much more evenly scattered. The most prominent community lives in the Visaginas Municipality (52%). Most of them are workers who moved from Russia to work at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. A number of ethnic Russians left Lithuania after the declaration of independence in 1990.

In the past, the ethnic composition of Lithuania has varied dramatically. The most prominent change was the extermination of the Jewish population during the Holocaust. Before World War II, about 7.5% of the population was Jewish; they were concentrated in cities and towns and had a significant influence on crafts and business. They were called Litvaks and had a strong culture. The population of Vilnius, which was sometimes nicknamed the northern Jerusalem, was about 30% Jewish. Almost all its Jews were killed during the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Lithuania, some 75,000 alone between the years 1941 – 1942,Sönke Neitzel & Harald Welzer, Soldaten ( Protokolle vom Kämpfen, Töten und Sterben), Frankfurt am Main 2011, pp. 118–120 (Hebrew edition translated from the German) while others later immigrated to the United States and Israel. Now there are about 3,200 Jews living in Lithuania.

A 2004 analysis of mtDNA in a Lithuanian population revealed that Lithuanians are close to both Indo-European and Uralic languages-speaking populations of Northern Europe. Y-chromosome SNP haplogroup analysis showed Lithuanians to be closest to Latvians, Estonians, Belarusians and southern Finnish people. This is the result of Iron Age Europe. Autosomal SNP analysis situates Lithuanians most proximal to Latvians, followed by the westernmost East Slavs; furthermore, Germans and West Slavs (especially Poles) are situated more proximal to Lithuanians than Finns and northern Russians.

In 2022, researchers at Vilnius University have fully sequenced Lithuanian genomes using advanced supercomputing, revealing a remarkably preserved European gene pool shaped by millennia of isolation—both culturally and geographically—from forests and swamps after the last ice age. Their analysis shows Lithuanians retain significant genetic links to ancient European hunter-gatherers and even Neanderthals, including adaptations in traits like skin pigmentation, immunity, and metabolism. One highlighted Neanderthal-derived gene, BNC2, contributes to lighter skin and Caucasian features, including blue eyes, while another gene, HLA‑DRB1, enhances immune response to local pathogens. Two genes—PNLIP and PNLIPRP3—related to fat digestion appear to have been under consistent natural selection for over 250,000 years, suggesting an inherited adaptation to a diet rich in meat and oily fish. This may explain why Lithuanians thrive on traditional high-fat dishes like cepelinai.

Lithuanian Jews Ashkenazi Jews display a number of unique genetic characteristics; the utility of these variations has been the subject of debate. Genetic diseases among the Ashkenazi One variation, which is implicated in familial hypercholesterolemia, has been dated to the 14th century, corresponding to the establishment of Ashkenazi settlements in response to the invitation extended by Vytautas in 1388.

At the end of the 19th century, the average height of males was and the average height of females was . By the end of the 20th century, heights averaged for males and for females. J. Tutkuviene. Sex and gender differences in secular trend of body size and frame indices of Lithuanians. Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Bericht über die biologisch-anthropologische Literatur. 2005 Mar;63(1):29–44.

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Lithuanian settlement extends into adjacent countries that are now outside the modern Lithuanian state. A small Lithuanian community exists in the vicinity of Puńsk and Sejny in the Suwałki area of Poland, an area associated with the Lithuanian writer and cleric Antanas Baranauskas. Although most of the Lithuanian inhabitants in the region of Lithuania Minor that formed part of East Prussia were expelled when the area was annexed by the Soviet Union as the Kaliningrad Oblast, small groups of Lithuanians subsequently settled that area as it was repopulated with new Soviet citizens. Small groups of Lithuanians are still present in Belarus within the Grodno Region and Vitebsk Region.

Apart from the traditional communities in Lithuania and its neighbouring countries, Lithuanians also have a presence in other continents during the present day.

• Communities in the United States make up the largest part of this diaspora; as many as one million Americans can claim Lithuanian descent. Emigration to America began in the 19th century, with the generation calling itself the "grynoriai" (derived from "" meaning new and inexperienced). The migration flow was interrupted during the Soviet occupation, when travel and emigration were severely restricted. The largest concentrations of Lithuanian Americans are in the Great Lakes area and the Northeast; Chicago in particular is noted as the primary center of the diaspora. Nearly 33,000 Lithuanians have immigrated to the United States since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Immigration Statistics | Homeland Security
• Lithuanian communities in Canada are among the largest in the world along with the United States (See Lithuanian Canadian).
• Lithuanian communities in Mexico and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela) developed before World War II, beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Currently, there is no longer a flow of emigrants to these destinations, since economic conditions in those countries are not better than those in Lithuania (see Lithuanians in Brazil).
• Lithuanian communities were formed in South Africa during the late 19th and 20th century, the majority being Jewish.
• Lithuanian communities in other regions of the former Soviet Union were formed during the Soviet occupation; the numbers of Lithuanians in Siberia and Central Asia increased dramatically when a large portion of Lithuanians were involuntarily deported into these areas. After de-Stalinization, however, most of them returned. Later, some Lithuanians were relocated to work in other areas of the Soviet Union; some of them did not return to Lithuania, after it became independent.
• The Lithuanian communities in United Kingdom and Ireland began to appear after the restoration of independence to Lithuania in 1990; this emigration intensified after Lithuania became part of the European Union in 2004. London and Glasgow (especially the Bellshill and Coatbridge areas of Greater Glasgow) have long had large Catholic and Jewish Lithuanian populations. The Republic of Ireland probably has the highest concentration of Lithuanians relative to its total population size in Western Europe; its estimated 45,000 Lithuanians (about half of whom are registered) form over 1% of Ireland's total population.
• The Lithuanian communities in other countries of Northwestern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Iceland) as well as in Spain are very new and began their growth spurts as Lithuanian was accepted into the EU. In Norway there are 45,415 Lithuanians living in the country and it has in a short time become the second largest ethnic minority in the country, making up 0.85% of Norway's total population, and 4.81% of all foreign residents in Norway. There are around 3,500 Lithuanians in Iceland, making around 1% of the total population.
• Lithuanian communities in Germany began to appear after World War II. In 1950 they founded the Lithuanian High School in Diepholz, which was a private school for children of Lithuanian refugees. For decades the Lithuanian High School was the only full-time high school outside the Eastern Bloc offering courses in Lithuanian history, language, and culture. In 1954, the Lithuanian Community acquired Rennhof Manor House with its twelve-acre park in the town of Lampertheim-Hüttenfeld. The school was relocated there and still exists today.
• Lithuanian communities in Australia exist as well; due to its great distance from Europe, however, emigration there was minuscule. There are Lithuanian communities in Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart and Perth.