Editing Vilnius (section)

==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of Vilnius}} {{Further|Demographic history of Vilnius|Demographic history of the Vilnius region}}

[[File:Vilnius population pyramid.svg|thumb|alt=A red-and-blue graph|Vilnius [[population pyramid]] in 2021]]

In the eldership of [[Vilkpėdė]], remnants of a [[Magdalenian]] settlement were found which date to {{circa|10000 BC}}. Kairėnai, Pūčkoriai and Naujoji Vilnia had large settlements during the first millennium AD.<ref name="historyvle">{{cite web |title=Vilniaus istorija |url=https://www.vle.lt/Straipsnis/Vilniaus-istorija-125336 |website=vle.lt |access-date=8 November 2019 |language=lt}}</ref> The most densely-populated area was the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia, which had fortified homesteads.<ref name="historyvle" />

According to some historians, Vilnius could have been a city during the [[Kingdom of Lithuania]] times: King [[Mindaugas]] did not permanently live there, however, may have built Lithuania's first Catholic church for his [[coronation]] there. It is well established, however, that Vilnius existed as a city during the times of [[Traidenis]] and [[Vytenis]]. The first mention in the historical sources as a capital in 1323 in the [[Letters of Gediminas|letters to the Western cities]] of [[Gediminas]].

It became a multicultural city, with 14th-century sources noting that it consisted of a Great (Lithuanian) city and a [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]] one. By the 16th century, [[Germans|German]] merchants, artisans, Jews and [[Tatars]] had also settled in Vilnius. During the 16th– and 17th-century [[Reformation]] and [[Counter-Reformation]], the city's Polish-speaking population began to grow; by the middle of the 17th century, most writing was in Polish.<ref name="historyvle"/> City was inhabited by a large number of [[Italians|Italian]] and [[Swiss people|Swiss]] artisans as well and generally all the European nations were presented to an extent (those included [[Vilnius university]] professors and students among whom there were [[French people|French]], [[Spaniards|Spanish]], [[Swedes]] and even some [[Croatians]] as Tomaš Zdelarius, musicians at the [[Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania]] or such military servants as [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] [[Gáspár Bekes]]). Because of many nations inhabiting the city, in the 16th-18th. centuries it was known and nicknamed in Western sources as [[Babylon]] of Europe.<ref name="S. Bodniak 1930 p. 37">Especially in the 16th–17th centuries, Vilnius was called the ‘New Babylon’ because of the many languages spoken there, as well as its many religions (various Christian denominations as well as Jews and a Muslim Tatar community). E.g.: S. Bodniak, "Polska w relacji włoskiej z roku 1604", Pamiętnik biblioteki kórnickiej, 2, (Kórnik, 1930), p. 37.</ref>

By the inter-war period, after the brief [[Polish–Lithuanian War]] and the annexation of the so-called [[Republic of Central Lithuania]] by Poland, the population became overwhelmingly Polish with very significant Jewish minority. Because of the annexation, the 1931 Polish census recorded only 0.8% Lithuanians. After World War II, the number of ethnic Lithuanians in Vilnius rebounded; however, Lithuanization was soon replaced with [[Sovietization of the Baltic states|Sovietization]],<ref name="diana427">{{cite web |last=Janušauskienė |first=Diana |title=Tolerancijos apraiškos Lietuvoje: vertybinės nuostatos tautinių mažumų atžvilgiu |date=1 October 2012 |page=427 |url=https://www.mruni.eu/upload/iblock/814/002_Janusauskiene.pdf |access-date=14 January 2020 |archive-date=17 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117152513/https://www.mruni.eu/upload/iblock/814/002_Janusauskiene.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Snyder 92-93">{{cite book |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |title=The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-300-10586-5 |pages=92–93}}</ref> and the population became a mix of Lithuanians, Russians and Poles. Following independence in 1990, for the first time in modern history Lithuanians became a clear majority, increasing to 63.2 percent in 2011 and 67.4 percent in 2021.<ref name="2011census">{{cite book |url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/services-portlet/pub-edition-file?id=15930 |title=Lietuvos gyventojai 2011 metais (2011 m. gyventojų surašymo rezultatai / Lithuanian 2011 Population Census in Brief) |publisher=Statistics Department of Lithuania |isbn=978-9955-797-17-3 |trans-title=Population of Lithuania in 2011 (Population Census 2011 results) |access-date=11 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/lithuania-ethnic2021.htm |title=Ethnic composition of Lithuania 2021 |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/lt/statistiniu-rodikliu-analize?hash=0424adda-7b20-47a8-ac6c-f28c29486111#/ |title=Rodiklių duomenų bazė - Oficialiosios statistikos portalas |website=osp.stat.gov.lt}}</ref>

===Evolution===
Demographic evolution of Vilnius between 1766 and 2024:
{{Historical populations
| percentages = pagr
| cols = 3
| align = center
| clear = both
| source =<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.registrucentras.lt/bylos/dokumentai/gr/20230101_Gyventoju_skaicius_savivaldybese.pdf|date=2023-01-05|title=Gyventoju skaicius pagal savivaldybes 2023|website=Registrucentras.lt}}</ref><ref name=JJVMAT>{{cite book |author1=Juozas Jurginis |author2=Vytautas Merkys |author3=Adolfas Tautavičius |title=Vilniaus miesto istorija |language=lt |trans-title=Vilnius city history |location=Vilnius |publisher=Mintis |year=1968}}</ref>{{rp|214, 303}}<ref>
{{cite book |title=Lexykon geograficzny, dla gruntownego poięcia gazet i historyi z różnych autorów zebrany, przetłumaczony i napisany przez x. Hilaryona Karpińskiego, Z. S. Bazylego w prowincyi litewskiey kapłana i teologa. Po śmierci iego, z przydatkiem odmian, które zaszły, z wykładem na początku terminów geograficznych, i słownikiem nazwisk łacińskich na końcu położonym, do druku podany |language=pl |trans-title=A geographic Lexicon, for the thorough help of newspapers and histories from various authors collected, translated and written by x. Hilaryon Karpiński, Z. S. Bazyli in the provinces and a Lithuanian priest and theologian. After the death of iego, with the advent of variations that have occurred, with a lecture at the beginning of geographical terms, and a dictionary of Latin names at the end, printed for publication |quote=Mieszkancow zaś dufz liczy na 60,000. |location=Vilnius |year=1766 |page=602}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom XIII |language=pl |trans-title=Geographical dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries, Volume XIII |page=493 |year=1893 |location=Warsaw |publisher=Filipa Sulimierskiego i Władysława Walewskiego |url=http://dir.icm.edu.pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_XIII/ |access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref>
¹ Sharp decline after the [[Vilnius uprising (1794)]]; ² Decline of population due to [[French invasion of Russia|Napoleonic wars]] and the aftermath; ³ Sharp decline of population of Vilnius because of World War I and the aftermath during the clashes around [[Lithuanian Wars of Independence|Vilnius]]. These resulted in evacuation of Russian military, bureaucracy and the majority of its Russian inhabitants from Vilnius in 1915, as well as fleeing or evacuation of other Vilnius inhabitants of various communities (mostly Jewish and Lithuanian) to Russia and rural parts of Lithuania;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.draugas.org/news/the-great-war-in-lithuania-1914-1918/|title=The Great War in Lithuania 1914–1918}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://archyvas.istorijoszurnalas.lt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=57 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220050119/http://archyvas.istorijoszurnalas.lt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=57 |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 December 2019 |first=Vida |last=Pukienė |title=Voronežas – lietuvių švietimo židinys Rusijoje Pirmojo pasaulinio karo metais |language=lt |journal=Istorija}}</ref> ⁴ Rise of population due to influx of [[Invasion of Poland#German invasion|Polish and Jewish war refugees]]<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.vcb.lt/nezinios-nezinia-antrojo-pasaulinio-karo-atbegeliai-lietuvoje/ |title=Iš nežinios į nežinią: Antrojo pasaulinio karo atbėgėliai Lietuvoje |language=lt |trans-title=From one uncertainty to another uncertainty: World War II refugees in Lithuania |location=Kaunas |publisher=National M.K. Čiurlionis Art Museum |year=2015 |isbn=978-9955-471-55-4}}</ref> and migration of Lithuanian bureaucracy, students from [[Temporary capital of Lithuania|temporary capital]] [[Kaunas]] and other localities in Lithuania; ⁵ Sharp decline of population after atrocities of [[German occupation of Lithuania during World War II|World War II]] and [[The Holocaust in Lithuania|The Holocaust]]<ref name="pop.lt2">{{cite web |date=1 July 2024 |title=Resident population by county and municipality at the middle of the year |url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/lt/statistiniu-rodikliu-analize?hash=12281496-bf90-48e1-a846-9ee85f863265 |access-date=19 July 2024 |website=osp.stat.gov.lt |publisher=[[State Data Agency]]}}</ref><ref name="pop.lt">{{cite web |title=Nuolatinių gyventojų skaičius apskrityse ir savivaldybėse metų pradžioje |trans-title=Resident population by county and municipality at the beginning of the year |url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/statistiniu-rodikliu-analize?hash=684e50e2-6cf6-426f-8d20-8b3e3856bdd2#/ |access-date=18 May 2025 |website=osp.stat.gov.lt |publisher=[[State Data Agency]] |language=lt-LT}}</ref>
|1766|60,000
|1796¹|17,500
|1800|25,400
|1811|56,300
|1818²|33,600
|1822|43,900
|1830|42,000
|1834|52,400
|1836|56,100
|1839|54,700
|1846|54,200
|1852|65,400
|1860|60,000
|1870|64,200
|1875|82,700
|1885|102,900
|1897|154,500
|1909|205,200
|1911|238,600
|1916|140,800
|1919³|128,500
|1923|167,400
|1931|195,100
|1939|209,400
|1941⁴|270,000
|1944⁵|110,000
|1959|236,100
|1970|372,100
|1979|481,000
|1985|544,400
|1989|576,700
|1990|597,000
|1992|644,600
|1995|578,327
|1996|571,164
|1997|565,881
|1998|562,353
|1999|558,816
|2000|554,281
|2001|550,924
|2002|550,213
|2003|548,729
|2004|546,773
|2005|542,525
|2006|541,732
|2007|541,596
|2008|542,969
|2009|543,191
|2010|536,127
|2011|533,279
|2012|537,152
|2013|539,707
|2014|542,626
|2015|543,493
|2016|545,280
|2017|547,484
|2018|552,131
|2019|561,836
|2020|569,729
|2021|563,012
|2022|576,195
|2023|593,436
|2024|602,430
}}