View source for Ethnic minorities in Lithuania

The government of [[Lithuania]] has made provision for [[ethnic minorities]] since 1918. A substantial [[Jews|Jewish]] group that existed up to [[World War II]] was almost eliminated in the [[Holocaust]]. The Census of 2011 showed that 15.8% of inhabitants belonged to ethnic minorities: the two largest groups were the [[Poles in Lithuania|Poles]] and the [[Russians in Lithuania|Russians]], although the proportions had decreased since independence in 1989. Other minorities include the [[Samogitians]] - not classified in the Census - and the historically important [[Latvian language|Latvian]]-speaking [[Kursenieki]].

==Independent Lithuania (1918–1940)==
From 1918 to 1924 two ministries were specifically dedicated to ethnic minorities, the [[Lithuanian Ministry for Belarusian Affairs|Ministry for Belarusian Affairs]] and the [[Lithuanian Ministry for Jewish Affairs|Ministry for Jewish Affairs]].

On May 12, 1922 a Declaration concerning the protection of minorities in Lithuania was signed at [[Geneva]] under the auspices of the [[League of Nations]]. Its article 1 stipulated that "The stipulations of this Declaration are recognized as fundamental laws of Lithuania and no law, regulation or official action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations, nor shall any law, regulation or official action now or in the future prevail over them.".<ref name="decl1922">{{Cite web|url=http://www.forost.ungarisches-institut.de/pdf/19220512-1.pdf |title=Declaration concerning the protection of minorities in Lithuania|year=1922|publisher=League of Nations|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref>

<blockquote>
art.4 §4 Notwithstanding the establishing by the Lithuanian Government of an official language, appropriated facilities will be given to Lithuanian citizens with another language than Lithuanian, for the use of their language, be it by oral way or by written way, before the courts.<ref name="decl1922"/>
</blockquote>

==World War II (1939–1945)==
{{See also|The Holocaust in Lithuania|Sovietization of the Baltic states#Mass deportations}}
There was a significant [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Jewish community in Lithuania]] prior to World War II, and an influx of Jews from [[History of Poland (1939–1945)|Nazi-occupied Poland]] in 1941 increased this population to its maximum of nearly 250,000. However, by 1944, the vast majority of this population had been [[The Holocaust in Lithuania|murdered, deported]], or sent to concentration camps.

==Soviet Lithuania (1944–1990)==
In 1989, a Law on National Minorities was voted and a Committee of Nationalities for the Government of the Republic of Lithuania was established.<ref name="law1989">{{Cite web|url=http://www.litlex.lt/litlex/Eng/Frames/Laws/Documents/215.HTM|title= Law  on  Ethnic Minorities |author=Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic|date=23 November 1989 |access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref> Since 1999, it has been renamed Department of National Minorities and Émigrés.

==Independent modern Lithuania (1990–present)==
The [[Council of Europe]]'s [[Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities]] was signed on February 1, 1995, and ratified on March 23, 2000. It came into force on July 1, 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/157/signatures |title=Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities |date=2016-07-09 |publisher=Council of Europe|access-date=2016-07-08}}</ref> Several other national laws have a direct or indirect link to minorities, e.g. the State Language Law (1995) and the Law of Education (1991, amended in 2003).<ref name="coe2009">{{Cite web|url=http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/lithuania.php?aid=421|title=Lithuania - Cultural minorities, groups and communities|year=2009|work=Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, 10th edition|publisher=Council of Europe|access-date=2009-11-15|archive-date=2010-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621065311/http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/lithuania.php?aid=421|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to the census conducted in 2011, about 15.8% of Lithuania's population was composed of ethnic minorities:<ref name="2011a">{{Cite web|url=http://www.stat.gov.lt/uploads/Lietuvos_gyventojai_2011.pdf |title=Lithuania census 2011 |access-date=2012-10-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=2 lentelė. Gyventojai pagal tautybę|url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/documents/10180/217110/Gyv_kalba_tikyba.pdf/1d9dac9a-3d45-4798-93f5-941fed00503f|publisher=Statistics Lithuania|access-date=13 January 2019|page=8|author=Statistics Lithuania|language=lt}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Ethnic groups
! Total population
! Compared to all<br />population, %
|-
| Total
| 3,043,429
| 100
|-
| [[Lithuanian people|ethnic Lithuanians]]
| 2,561,314
| 84.2
|-
| [[Poles in Lithuania|Poles]]
| 200,317
| 6.6
|-
| [[Russians in Lithuania|Russians]]
| 176,913
| 5.8
|-
|[[Belarusians in Lithuania|Belarusians]]
| 36,227
| 1.2
|-
| [[Ukrainians in Lithuania|Ukrainians]]
| 16,423
| 0.5
|-
| [[History of Jews in Lithuania|Jews]]
| 3,050
| 0.1
|-
| [[Lipka Tatars|Tatars]]
| 2,793
| 0.09
|-
| [[Baltic Germans|Germans]]
| 2,418
| 0.07
|-
| [[Romani people|Roma]]
| 2,115
| 0.07
|-
| [[Latvian people|Latvians]]
| 2,025
| 0.06
|-
| [[Armenians in Lithuania|Armenians]]
| 1,233
| 0.04
|-
| [[Moldovans]]
| 540
| 0.01
|-
| [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]]
| 648
| 0.02
|-
| [[Han Chinese|Chinese]]
| 500
| 0.015
|-
| [[Georgian people|Georgians]]
| 372
| 0.01
|-
| [[Estonian people|Estonians]]
| 314
| 0.01
|-
| [[Ethnic groups of Africa|African]]
| 264
| 0.01
|-
| [[Crimean Karaites|Karaites]]
| 241
| 0.008
|-
|[[Bulgarians]]
| 170
| 0.006
|-
|[[Chuvashs]]
| 164
| 0.005
|-
|[[Greeks]]
| 159
| 0.005
|-
| [[Uzbeks]]
| 157
| 0.005
|-
| [[Kazakhs]]
| 144
| 0.005
|-
| [[Ossetians]]
| 119
| 0.004
|-
| [[Finns]]
| 109
| 0.004
|-
| [[French people|French]]
| 104
| 0.003
|-
| [[Koreans]]
| 67
| 0.002
|-
| Other
| (2,356)
| 0.1
|-
| No response on <br />the ethnicity question
| 32,978
| 1.1
|}

The percentage of ethnic Lithuanians has increased from 79.6% in 1989 to 83.5% in 2001; the percentage of Poles has decreased from 7.0% to 6.7%, Russians from 9.4% to 6.3%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/t/e/social_cohesion/population/demographic_year_book/2002_edition/RAPNAT2002%20%20Lithuania%20e.asp|title=2002 Edition – Country Reports - Lithuania|year=2002|work=Recent Demographic Developments in Europe|publisher=Council of Europe|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref>

According to the 2001 census, in [[Šalčininkai District Municipality]] as well as in the town of [[Visaginas]] (which enjoys a special status) [[Lithuanian people|ethnic Lithuanians]] are in minority (10 and 15 per cent respectively).<ref name="2001b">{{Cite web|url=http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1732 |title=Population by some ethnicities by county and municipality  (2001 Census) |publisher=Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (Statistics Lithuania), 2005 |access-date=2009-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124411/http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1732 |archive-date=September 29, 2007 }}</ref><ref>Budryte, Dovile and Pilinkaite-Sotirovic, Vilana, Lithuania: progressive legislation without popular support, pp.151-165, in {{Cite book|title=Minority rights in Central and Eastern Europe|editor=Rechel, Bernd|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2009|pages=242|isbn=978-0-203-88365-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xkS0NcM24SUC&pg=PA151|access-date=2009-11-14}}</ref>

==Samogitians==
The respondents in the various censuses do not have the option to choose for the [[Samogitians|Samogitian ethnicity]]. This was contested before a court by the ''Žemaitē bova, īr ė būs'' ("Samogitians were, are and will be") Association, also named Ž''emaitiu soeiga'', which considers that it is a violation of the Constitution, more particularly of the provision that everyone has the right to decide on his nationality.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80708,4358628.html|title=Żmudzini chcą być uznani za naród|last=IAR|date=August 2, 2007|publisher=Gazeta Wyborcza|language=pl|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref> According to Egidijus Skarbalius, the founder of the [[Samogitian Party]], a new Samogitian autonomist party founded in April 2008, Samogitians could be as many as one million, thus representing a third of Lithuania's total population.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80708,5141627.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722182102/http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80708,5141627.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 22, 2012|title=Żmudzini chcą być narodem|last=PAP|date=April 21, 2008|publisher=Gazeta Wyborcza|language=pl|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.kresy.pl/serwis-polski,goniec-kresowy?zobacz/zmudzki-niedzwiedz-sie-budzi|title=Żmudzki niedźwiedź się budzi (The Samogitian bear wakes up )|date=January 2009|publisher=Kurier Wileński (Vilnius Courier)|language=pl|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref>

==Kursenieki==
{{details|Kursenieki}}
[[Image:Curonians kursenieki in 1649.png|thumb|Curonian-populated area in 1649]]
While today the [[Kursenieki]], also known as Kuršininkai, are a nearly extinct [[Balts|Baltic]] ethnic group living along the [[Curonian Spit]], in [[1649]] Kuršininkai settlement spanned from [[Klaipėda|Memel (Klaipėda)]] to [[Gdańsk|Danzig (Gdańsk)]]. The Kuršininkai were eventually assimilated by the [[Germans]], except along the Curonian Spit where some still live. The Kuršininkai were considered [[Latvians]] until after [[World War I]] when [[Latvia]] gained independence from the [[Russian Empire]], a consideration based on linguistic arguments. This was the rationale for Latvian claims over the Curonian Spit, [[Klaipėda|Memel]], and other territories of [[East Prussia]] which would be later dropped.

==See also==
*[[Baltic Germans]] 
**[[Klaipėda Region]]
*[[Baltic Russians]]
* '''''<small>{{portal-inline|Lithuania}}</small>'''''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.minelres.lv/NationalLegislation/Lithuania/lithuania.htm Minority related national legislation - Lithuania]
*Minority Rights Group International, [http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749cefc.html World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Lithuania : Belarusians and Ukrainians], 2008
* Moser, Robert. "[http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p59737_index.html The Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Post-Communist Legislatures: Russia and Lithuania Compared]" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Hilton Chicago and the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL, Sep 02, 2004

{{Ethnic groups in Lithuania}}
{{Lithuania topics}}
{{Europe topic|Ethnic minorities in}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ethnic Minorities In Lithuania}}
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Lithuania|*]]