Latest Migration Yearbook - key statistics
For the fifth consecutive year, net international migration of Lithuanian citizens has been positive, with a change in labour migration flows recorded last year: alongside the usual labour force leaders, Ukrainians and Belarusians, Uzbeks took third place.
The highly tightened migration controls have contributed to a sharp jump in the statistics on refused and withdrawn temporary residence permits.
These and other key migration statistics are published for the twenty-first time in the Migration Yearbook, a traditional electronic publication produced by the Migration Department.
Decrease in the number of foreigners
"As always, the Migration Department has moved very quickly to adapt to the changes in Lithuania's migration policy priorities and has strengthened migration control in the second half of 2024. This immediately yielded the desired results: at the end of the year, the number of foreigners living in Lithuania decreased", says Evelina Gudzinskaitė, Director of the Migration Department.
According to the data of 1 January 2025, the total number of foreigners living in Lithuania was 217,290, while at the beginning of 2024 there were 221,848 foreigners living in Lithuania.
This year-on-year decrease in the number of foreigners, although slight, is the first time since 2016.
Lithuanians who emigrated earlier are returning home in greater numbers
According to official statistics, net international migration of our nationals has been positive for the fifth consecutive year. This means that more of its citizens return to Lithuania every year than leave to live abroad.
According to available data, in 2024, 9,486 of our citizens will leave Lithuania to live abroad, while 18,934 will arrive.
The top three countries from which Lithuanians most often choose to return home have remained the same since 2019. Last year, the largest number of Lithuanian citizens returned home from the United Kingdom - 6,581, from Norway - 2,064 and from Germany - 1,439.
The main reason for foreigners to come here is to work
As every year, when employers in the country cannot find enough local labour, their eyes turn to foreign markets, and the aspects of labour migration from abroad continued to be one of the most topical and most discussed issues in Lithuania last year.
According to the data available to the Migration Department, as of 1 January 2025, out of the 218,000 foreigners staying in Lithuania, as many as 106.4 thousand will have temporary residence permits on the basis of work.
More than 41.4 thousand such workers came from Belarus, 23.3 thousand from Ukraine, while the remaining positions are shared by three Central Asian countries: at the beginning of the year, almost 8.9 thousand Uzbeks, 6.5 thousand Tajiks and 5.2 thousand Kyrgyz worked in Lithuania.
At the beginning of the year, more than 5.8 thousand foreigners were working in highly skilled jobs in Lithuania. Belarusian nationals were the most prominent group of workers, with 3.6 thousand workers, followed by Russian nationals with almost 900 and Indian nationals with 349.
Almost 9,000 foreigners live in Lithuania on the basis of studies, of which the largest number - 1,500 - are Indian citizens. The number of students from Belarus and Pakistan is evenly divided - around 1,000 each.
The number of revoked temporary residence permits has increased significantly
The need for stricter control and regulation of the flow of foreign arrivals, the amendments to the legislation which entered into force, introducing new transparency criteria and requirements for companies employing foreigners, additional restrictions on foreigners wishing to enter Lithuania - all these factors have led to a marked change in the statistics on the number of withdrawned, denied and renewed temporary residence permits.
The year before last, for the whole year 2023, Migration Department specialists refused to issue or to renew 2,681 temporary residence permits and withdrawn another 8,086 such documents.
By contrast, in 2024, the number of temporary residence permits refused or renewed jumped to 8271, and the number of withdrawn permits to 29,673.
The largest share of withdrawn permits - almost 16,000 - is accounted for by permits revoked due to the termination of the employment contract with the foreigner.
The number of persons deprived of the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania decreased
Last year, 587 persons lost their citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania, or almost half as many as the previous year, when 1083 persons lost their citizenship.
The number of persons who regained the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania increased - 3571. Whereas the previous year there were 2,402.
For the first time since the restoration of independence, decisions were taken on the loss of citizenship for serving in the service of another state without the permission of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. On this basis, 3 persons lost their citizenship.
Two other persons who had previously obtained citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania by way of exception were deprived of it because, as citizens of another state, they posed a threat to the security interests of Lithuania.
According to the data of the Migration Department, as of 1 January of this year, almost 79,000 persons legally held multiple citizenship. At the beginning of last year, there were almost 69,000 such persons.
Belarusians continue to be the most frequent applicants for asylum
In 2024, Migration Department specialists received a total of 362 asylum applications. The largest number of applications - 140 - were submitted by Belarusian citizens. Another 47 applications were received from Russian citizens.
Asylum applications peaked in 2021, when a hybrid attack organised by the Belarusian regime was launched against Lithuania to instrumentalise irregular migrants. That year, a total of 4,259 applications were received.
With these flows successfully contained, the number of asylum applications began to fall year by year: 1,051 in 2022, 575 in 2023 and 362 last year, as mentioned above.
The three largest communities of foreigners have declined
The Ukrainian community remains the largest in Lithuania, but its membership has declined from 86.3 thousand Ukrainian citizens at the beginning of 2024 to 77 thousand in January this year. More than half of the Ukrainians - 42,000 - are war refugees who have fled the Russian aggression and benefit from the Temporary Protection Mechanism in our country.
The number of Belarusian citizens living in Lithuania has also decreased. At the beginning of 2025, 57.5 thousand Belarusians were legally residing in our country, compared to more than 62 thousand a year earlier.
The change in the number of Russian citizens, the third largest foreign community, is minimal: at the beginning of this year, almost 15 thousand Russians lived in Lithuania, compared to almost 16 thousand at the same time last year.
In 2024, the relatively small number of foreigners from the Central Asian region grew: Uzbeks from 8.2 thousand to 9 thousand, Tajiks from 5.7 thousand to 6.6 thousand, Azerbaijanis from 3.8 thousand to 4.7 thousand.
The number of Indians living in Lithuania also increased from 4.6 thousand to 7.1 thousand, Pakistanis from 926 to 2.4 thousand, Bangladeshi citizens from 379 to 1 thousand.
Last year, only the Kyrgyz community decreased from 6.2 thousand to 5.3 thousand.
The full Yearbook 2024 can be found here
Last updated: 28-03-2025
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