Editing Demographics of Lithuania (section)

==History==

=== Prehistory ===
The earliest evidence of inhabitants in present-day [[Lithuania]] dates back to 10,000 BC. Between 3000 and 2000 BC, the people of the [[Corded Ware culture]] spread over a vast region of eastern Europe, between the [[Baltic Sea]] and the [[Vistula River]] in the West and the [[Moscow]]–[[Kursk]] line in the East. Merging with the [[indigenous peoples]], they gave rise to the [[Balts]], a distinct [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] ethnic group whose descendants are the present-day [[Lithuanian people|Lithuanian]] and [[Latvian people|Latvian]] nations and the former [[Old Prussians]].

=== Grand Duchy of Lithuania ===
{{See also|Grand Duchy of Lithuania#Demographics|Grand Duchy of Lithuania#Languages|Demographic history of Poland#Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795)}}
[[File:Lithuanian language in the 16th century.png|thumb|left|250px|Area of the [[Lithuanian language]] in the 16th century]]
The [[name of Lithuania]] – ''Lithuanians'' – was first mentioned in 1009. Among its etymologies there are a derivation from the word ''Lietava'', for a small river, a possible derivation from a word [[leičiai]], but most probable is the name for union of Lithuanian ethnic tribes ('susilieti, lietis' means to unite and the word 'lietuva' means something which has been united).

The primary Lithuanian state, the Duchy of Lithuania, emerged in the territory of [[Duchy of Lithuania|Lietuva]], the ethnic homeland of Lithuanians. At the birth of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), ethnic Lithuanians made up about 70% of the population.<ref name="Letukienė">{{Cite journal|last1=Letukienė|first1=Nijolė|last2=Gineika|first2=Petras|title=Istorija. Politologija: kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui|publisher=Alma littera|location=Vilnius|year=2003|page=182|language=lt}} Statistical numbers, probably accepted in historiography (the sources, their treatment, the procedure of counting is not discussed in this book) are given, according which in 1260 there were about 0.27 million Lithuanians of 0.4 million of a whole population; in percentage: 67,5%.</ref> With the acquisition of new [[Ruthenia]]n territories, this proportion decreased to 50% and later to 30%. By the time of the largest expansion towards [[Kievan Rus']] lands, at the end of the 13th and during the 14th century, the territory of the GDL was about 800,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, of which 10% was ethnically Lithuanian.<ref name="wiemer">Bjorn Wiemer, ''Dialect and language contacts on the territory of the Grand Duchy from the 15th century until 1939'', Kurt Braunmüller, Gisella Ferraresi, ''Aspects of multilingualism in European language history'', John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2003, {{ISBN|90-272-1922-2}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7KraXiQo_uIC&q=Grand+Duchy+of+Lithuania&pg=PA109 Google Print, p.109; 125] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012092315/https://books.google.com/books?id=7KraXiQo_uIC&q=Grand+Duchy+of+Lithuania&pg=PA109 |date=2023-10-12 }}</ref> The ethnic Lithuanian population is estimated to have been 420,000 out of 1.4 million in 1375 (the territory was about 700,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), and 550,000 out of 3.8 million in 1490 (territory: 850,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>)<ref>Letukienė, N., Istorija. Politologija: kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui, 2003, p. 182. There can be found also different numbers, for example: Kevin O'Connor, ''The history of the Baltic States'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, {{ISBN|0-313-32355-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&dq=million+%22Grand+Duchy%22&pg=PA17 |title=The History of the Baltic States |date=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-32355-3 |pages=17 |language=en}} </ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&dq=million+%22Grand+Duchy%22&pg=PA17 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2023-03-24 |archive-date=2023-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412051322/https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&dq=million+%22Grand+Duchy%22&pg=PA17 |url-status=bot: unknown }}. Here author estimates that there were 9 million inhabitants in GDL, and 1 million of them were ethnic Lithuanians by 1387.</ref> In addition to the Ruthenians and Lithuanians, other significant ethnic groups throughout GDL were [[Lithuanian Jews|Jews]] and [[Tatars]]. The combined population of Poland and GDL in 1493 is estimated as 7.5 million, of whom 3.25 million were Poles, 3.75 million Ruthenians and 0.5 million Lithuanians.<ref name="Pogonowski">Based on 1493 population map (p.92) from [[Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski]], ''Poland a Historical Atlas'', Hippocrene Books, 1987, {{ISBN|0-88029-394-2}}</ref>

[[File:1712. Samogitie et Lithuanie Propre, Grand Duché de Lithuanie.png|right|thumb|[[Samogitia]] (marked in pink) and [[Lithuania proper]] (marked in green) in a map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1712]]
With the [[Union of Lublin]] Lithuanian Grand Duchy lost large part of lands to the Polish Crown (see [[Historical demography of Poland#Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth .281569–1795.29|demographics]] of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). An ethnic Lithuanian proportion being about 1/4 in GDL after the Union of Lublin was held until the [[Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth|partitions]]. There was much devastation and population loss throughout the GDL in the mid and late 17th century,<ref>Jarmo Kotilaine, ''Russia's foreign trade and economic expansion in the seventeenth century: windows on the world'', BRILL, 2005, {{ISBN|90-04-13896-X}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=57LnE5DO2rQC&dq=demographics+%22Grand+Duchy+of+Lithuania%22&pg=PA45 Google Print, p.45] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012092315/https://books.google.com/books?id=57LnE5DO2rQC&dq=demographics+%22Grand+Duchy+of+Lithuania%22&pg=PA45 |date=2023-10-12 }}</ref> including the ethnic Lithuanian population in [[Vilnius voivodeship]]. Besides devastation,{{Clarify|date=January 2010}} the Ruthenian population declined proportionally{{Clarify|date=January 2010}} after the territorial losses to the [[Russian Empire]]. In 1770 there were about 4.84 million inhabitants in GDL, of which the largest ethnic group were Ruthenians, about 1.39 million – Lithuanians.{{Clarify|date=January 2010}}<ref name="Letukienė" /> The [[voivodeship]]s with a majority ethnic Lithuanian population were [[Vilnius voivodeship|Vilnius]], [[Trakai voivodeship|Trakai]] and [[Eldership of Samogitia|Samogitian]] voivodeships, and these three voivodeships comprised the political center of the state. In the southern angle of Trakai voivodeship and south-eastern part of Vilnius voivodeship there were also many Belarusians; in some of the south-eastern areas they were the major linguistic group.

The Ruthenian population formed a majority in GDL from the time of the GDL's expansion in the mid 14th century; and the adjective "Lithuanian", besides denoting ethnic Lithuanians, from early times denoted any inhabitant of GDL, including Slavs and Jews.

The [[Ruthenian language]], corresponding to today's [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], was then called [[Kievan Rus'|Russian]], and was used as one of the chancellery{{Clarify|date=January 2010}} languages by Lithuanian monarchs. However, there are fewer extant documents written in this language than those written in Latin and German from the time of [[Vytautas]]. Later, Ruthenian became the main language of documentation and writing. In the years that followed, it was the main language of government until the introduction of [[Polish language|Polish]] as the chancellery language of the Lithuanian–Polish Commonwealth in 1697; however there are also examples of documents written in Ruthenian from the second half of the 18th century.<ref name="Zinkevičius">{{in lang|lt}} [http://viduramziu.istorija.net/socium/zinkevicius1995.htm Lietuvos Didžiosios kunigaikštystės kanceliarinės slavų kalbos termino nusakymo problema] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710180554/http://viduramziu.istorija.net/socium/zinkevicius1995.htm |date=2009-07-10 }} Z. Zinkevičius</ref> The Lithuanian language was used orally in Vilnius, Trakai and Samogitian voivodeships, and by small numbers of people elsewhere. At the [[royal court]] in Vilnius of [[Sigismund II Augustus]], the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin, both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely.<ref name="Stone3">Daniel. Z Stone, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=LFgB_l4SdHAC&q=Lithuanian&pg=PA52 A History of East Central Europe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164813/https://books.google.com/books?id=LFgB_l4SdHAC&q=Lithuanian&pg=PA52 |date=2023-03-26 }}'', p. 4, 52.</ref>

===Russian Empire===
[[File:Etnograficheskiy atlas Zapadno Russkih gubernij, 1863.jpg|thumb|Distribution of [[Lithuanians]]: [[Samogitians]] (olive green) and [[Aukštaitians]]-Lithuanians (orange) in a 1863 ethnographic map of the [[List of governorates of the Russian Empire|governorates of the Russian Empire]]]] 
After the [[Partitions of Poland|Third Partition]] of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] on October 24, 1795, between the [[Russian Empire]], the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] and the [[Habsburg monarchy]], the Commonwealth ceased to exist and [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] became a part of the [[Russian empire]]. After the [[Emancipation reform of 1861|abolition of serfdom]] in 1861, the use of the Polish language noticeably increased in eastern Lithuania and western Belarus.<ref name="wiemer" /> Many Lithuanians, living further east, were unable to receive the Lithuanian printed books smuggled into Lithuania by [[knygnešiai]] during the time of [[Lithuanian press ban|the ban on printing books]] in the Latin alphabet, and they switched to Polish. Although this also used the Latin alphabet, it was much less affected by the ban, because Polish was still used by the politically important class of the nobility, and also used predominantly in the biggest towns of Lithuania, and supported by the church.

===National Revival===
The [[Lithuanian National Revival]] had begun to intensify by the end of the 19th century, and the number of Lithuanian speakers and people identifying themselves as ethnic Lithuanians started to increase; but at the same time many Polish speaking Lithuanians, especially former ''[[szlachta]]'', cut themselves adrift from the Lithuanian nation. There were population losses due to several border changes, [[Soviet deportations from Lithuania|Soviet deportations]], [[The Holocaust in Lithuania|the Holocaust of the Lithuanian Jews]], and [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)|German]] and [[Repatriation of Poles (1955–59)|Polish repatriations]] during and after [[World War II]]. After World War II, the ethnic Lithuanian population remained stable: 79.3% in 1959 to 83.5% in 2002. Lithuania's citizenship law and the [[Constitution of Lithuania|Constitution]] meet international and [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|OSCE]] standards, guaranteeing universal human and civil rights.