According to the press release, 53,900 residents left Lithuania in 2011, while onnly 15,700 immigrated. As compared with the 2010 data, the number of people who declared emigration from Lithuania went down by 29,300, while the number of those declaring immigration increased by 10,500.
The net loss due to migration - i.e., difference between immigration and emigration figures - was 38,200 in 2011. In the period of 2007–2011, the average annual emigration stood at 44,000, while immigration was 9,000.
Last year, every other emigrant left for the United Kingdom, 10.4 percent went to Ireland, 7.1 percent chose Norway, 7 percent went to Germany, 3.6 percent to Spain, 3.3 percent to the US, 2.4 percent to Sweden and 2 percent to Russia.
Over the last five years, incresingly many emigrants chose the United Kingdom as their destination. In 2008–2009, the country was the destination of a fourth of all emigrants; later, the number reached fifty percent. In terms of emigration flows, Ireland was second and Norway was the third most popular destination over the past two years.
