According to data published by the Statistics Department, 17,300 Lithuanian citizens returned to their home country last year, up by a fourth from 2011. Some 2,500 foreigners arrived in Lithuania in 2012.
Over the past year, 41,100 Lithuanian residents left the country, indicating the lowest number of emigrants over the past three years. Emigration was declared by 83,000 people in 2010 and 54,000 in 2011.
The United Kingdom remains the most popular destination among emigrants – emigration to the country was declared by 48 percent of all emigrants last year.
Other popular emigration routes go to Ireland (9 pct), Germany and Norway (8 pct each),
Last year, 41 percent of all emigrants from Lithuania were of the age group of 20-29 years, 12 percent were 30-34 years of age. The distribution of emigrants across genders was about the same.
Among the emigrants who left last year, 75 percent of those aged 15 and above had been unemployed for a year or more before emigration.
The largest groups of immigrants to Lithuania last year were from Russia (526), Ukraine (377), Belarus (363), Poland (137) and Latvia (113).
