Vilnius’ microdistricts built during the Soviet era lost more than 30,000 people within a decade. of inhabitants – MadeinVilnius.lt

In the last decade, the city of Vilnius has been witnessing a rapid migration of residents from residential micro-districts built during the Soviet period, according to data analyzed by the Construction Sector Development Agency (SSVA) on population migration between individual city districts.

in Vilnius in 2011-2021. there is an active internal migration of the population. A very positive migration of residents to the central part of the city, where the number of residents increased by 11,000. However, in the microdistricts built during the Soviet era, the population decreased by as much as 31 thousand.

According to SSVA, the greatest concern is the scale of population migration to the suburbs of the capital – the population there has increased by as much as 52 thousand in 10 years.

“This is a very rapid growth that leads to higher traffic flows and creates a need for all kinds of infrastructure development. Since the population density in the suburbs remains low, the costs of the development of the infrastructure created there are very high, and they are borne by the residents remaining in the city,” says Mindaugas Pakalnis, head of the SSVA Urbanistics department.

The situation in Kaunas is different – the center has not become attractive to live in and the population migration to it is almost unrecorded.

In Kaunas, the most noticeable increase in population is from the apartment buildings built during the Soviet period and the old micro-districts around the center, which lost about 23 thousand people. inhabitants, to the periphery, which grew by about 19 thousand. population.

“I was pleasantly surprised by Klaipėda, whose center has grown by about 2 thousand. population shows obvious signs of recovery. In Klaipėda, of course, the fleeing of residents from micro-districts built during the Soviet era, which lost about 15 thousand people, is also recorded. population, as well as growing suburbs, which increased by about 11 thousand. population, trends”, assesses the head of SSVA’s Urban Studies department.

The data was analyzed in the assessment of 2011. and 2021 population census data, which provide a lot of knowledge about the urbanization processes that took place in the last decade.