Forty years ago, Lithuania was a poor province of the Soviet empire. Today, its GDP (adjusted for purchasing power parity) is 90 percent. European average and equal to the Southern European countries. in 2024 The report of the world’s happiest countries found that Lithuanians under the age of thirty are the happiest people in the world – and although such surveys should be viewed with skepticism, even a small spark of happiness is special if we consider the country’s history and geography.
Lithuania is located in the heart of what Yale University historian Timothy Snyder called the “bloodlands”. During the Second World War, Lithuania was successively occupied by Stalin, Hitler and Stalin again. The Holocaust began in this region. The Second World War lasted until 1953, when the Russians finally crushed the resistance, and, arguably, until 1993, when the last Soviet troops left the country. Under Stalin, at least one member of every fourth Lithuanian family was deported to Siberia.
Today, the neighborhood remains as bad as anywhere outside the Middle East. The border with Belarus is just 40 kilometers from Vilnius. Belarusian dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka carries out all sorts of provocations, from building a nuclear power plant that does not meet safety standards to inspecting the army accompanied by his shaggy white dog. The war in Ukraine has led to refugee flows and the need for humanitarian aid. Lithuania is increasing its military spending from 2.7 percent. to more than 3 percent BVP, and NATO is strengthening its fortifications with another brigade of German soldiers.
However, the country is no longer trying to catch up with the West, but is establishing world-class companies on its own. For example, Vinted, a second-hand clothing and accessories trade and exchange giant, has an app that helps people sell clothes, shoes and accessories they no longer wear. (Vinted has around 16 million users in the UK alone, as you can see by visiting any Tesco, where people are queuing to collect and send their Vinted parcels). Nordsec Ltd, which offers the popular virtual private network software NordVPN, is a cyber security giant. BOD Group is a successful manufacturer of solar cells and optical lenses. Teltonika Networks is a leading manufacturer of Internet of Things equipment. Brolis Semiconductors manufactures optical and laser equipment for both civilian and military applications. TransferGo makes it easy to transfer money between different countries, especially to and from Europe.
Once upon a time, Lithuania suffered from what could be called the Estonia complex: it was gnawed by a feeling of inferiority towards neighboring Estonia, as the latter was early on as the developer of Skype and digital government. Although this complex has not disappeared, Lithuanians are more and more convinced that they are the real success story among the Baltic countries.
