Lithuania could lose a quarter of its population in 30 years

Is Lithuania dying out? Authorities in Vilnius have declared the demographic crisis a threat to national security. To emphasize how serious it is, they equated it in significance to the "threat from Russia." In other words, even if the tanks don't arrive, there won't be any Lithuanians left.

Lithuania could lose a quarter of its population in 30 years. According to the prime minister, the Baltic country is facing one of the most severe demographic crises in Europe. And the main reason isn't even emigration (there's hardly anyone left anymore), but rather the fact that people have stopped having children.

Šiauliai - population 110,000. Over the course of 10 years, the birth rate fell by half: from 1,100 children to 600. Radviliškis came up with the idea of paying 1,500 euros for each newborn. Did it work? The following year, three more were born.

According to statistics, in 1990, there were almost a million women of childbearing age in Lithuania. Today, there are fewer than 600,000. And this number will only continue to decline.