Lithuania Cultural Groups

The estimated population of Lithuania in 2003 is 3.6 million. Of these, 81% are Lithuanian, 9% Russian, 7.5% Polish. 1.5% Belorussians, The remaining 1% consist of Ukrainians, Jews, Latvians, Muslim Tatars, Gypsies and Germans. There was a large Jewish population in nineteenth century Lithuania but Jews emigrated in large numbers toward the end of the century because of anti-Jewish pogroms and persecution. At the close of nineteenth century, about 1,500,000 Jews lived in the region. They constituted more than one-eighth of the total population, concentrated mainly in the cities and towns where they often constituted the majority. Their numbers were decimated by the Nazis during the holocaust of the second world war. In 1993 there were an estimated 6,000 Jews in Lithuania.