| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Ethnic Belarusians: 28,183 (2021 census)[1] Citizens of Belarus: 53,739 (April 2025)[2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Vilnius,Visaginas,Šalčininkai District | |
| Languages | |
| Russian,Belarusian (incl.simple speech),Lithuanian,Polish | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism (49.6%),Eastern Orthodoxy (32.3%) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Belarusians,Poles in Lithuania,Lithuanians |
TheBelarusian minority in Lithuania (Belarusian:Беларусы Літвы;Lithuanian:Lietuvos baltarusiai) is one of theethnic minorities inLithuania.
The community is historically divided into two distinct groups: the so-calledlocals inhabiting theVilnius andŠalčininkai districts, and the modern diaspora formed by migration during the Soviet era and the recent wave of political and economic emigrants following the2020–2021 Belarusian protests.
According to the 2021 census, there were 28,183 ethnic Belarusians in Lithuania (1.0% of the population), making them the third-largest ethnic group after Lithuanians and Poles.[1] However, the number of Belarusian citizens residing in the country surged after 2020, reaching over 62,000 in 2024 before declining to approximately 53,700 by April 2025.[2]
Since the times of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania until World War I, the socio-economic, national, and cultural development of Belarusians and Lithuanians took place within a unified state space. The main Belarusian center here was historicallyVilnius, where common state and cultural institutions existed, includingVilnius University and the Vilnius Brotherhood printing house. After thepartitions of Poland–Lithuania by theRussian Empire at the end of the 18th century, Belarusians and Lithuanians participated together in the national liberation movement (theKościuszko Uprising of 1794, thePhilomaths and Philarets societies, the activities ofSzymon Konarski andFranz Savitch, theNovember Uprising of 1830–31, and theJanuary Uprising of 1863–64).[3]
According to theRussian Empire census of 1897, 70,300 Belarusians lived on the territory ofVilnius Governorate (which included some parts now in Belarus), where they made up 56% of the population. In the early 20th century, various Belarusian organizations operated in Vilnius, such as theVilnius Art and Industrial Society, theNasha Niva publishing house, theBelarusian Publishing Society (active 1919–1930), theBelarusian Music and Drama Circle, and theBelarusian Teachers' Union. Newspapers likeNasha Dolya andNasha Niva were published there.[3]
During World War I, after the German occupation of Lithuania in 1915, theBelarusian Club was organized in Vilnius, and theBelarusian Hramada inKaunas. With theproclamation of the restoration of Lithuanian independence on 16 February 1918, the activities of Belarusian organizations in the German-occupied territories of Belarus and Lithuania were coordinated by theVilnius Belarusian Rada (VBR). After the denunciation of theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, representatives of the VBR joined theCouncil of Lithuania, and theLithuanian Ministry for Belarusian Affairs was created.[3]
In December 1918, the government of theBelarusian People's Republic (BPR) was located in Vilnius, and from late 1920 to October 1923, in Kaunas. The Belarusian Diplomatic Mission was also located there in 1919–1923. In June 1919, the 1st and 2nd Separate Belarusian Companies were formed in Kaunas, which participated together with Lithuanian units in battles against Soviet and Polish troops. In November 1919, both companies were united into the Belarusian Battalion. In April 1920, it was transformed into the Belarusian Separate Company, and in December 1920, back into the Belarusian Separate Battalion, which until 1923 waged an anti-Polish partisan war in Western Belarus.[3]
In October 1920, troops of the Polish generalLucjan Żeligowski seized Vilnius and theVilnius Region (seeRepublic of Central Lithuania), and in early 1922, the Sejm approved their incorporation intoPoland as theWilno Voivodeship. From that time until the end of 1939, Vilnius was the social, educational, and cultural center ofWestern Belarus. In 1923–24, the "Belarusian Riflemen's Union" cooperated with the Lithuanian side in the struggle against Poland. In the early 1920s, a foreign group of theBelarusian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, the Belarusian Assembly, the Belarusian Brotherhood, and others operated in Kaunas; a significant number of Belarusian-language periodicals were published in Lithuania.[3]
After the abolition of the Ministry of Belarusian Affairs in Lithuania (1923), whose successor the Belarusian Center (Kaunas) tried to become, public activity of Belarusians in Lithuania decreased due to the unfavorable attitude of Lithuanian authorities towards Belarusian national problems; by the end of the 1920s, almost all Belarusian schools there were closed. In the 1930s, the national-cultural life of Belarusians in Lithuania became active again (seeBelarusian Cultural and Educational Society in Kaunas), and the Kaunas Belarusian Center was restored.[3]
At the beginning of World War II, when Vilnius and the Vilnius Region were transferred to Lithuania (October 1939), theVilnius Belarusian Scientific Society and the Belarusian Student Union ceased their activities. During theGerman occupation of Lithuania during World War II, theVilnius Belarusian Gymnasium, the Belarusian Teachers' Seminary, and theVilnius Belarusian Museum (closed in 1945) were still active, and the newspaperBielaruski holas (ed.Frantsishak Alyakhnovich) was published.[3]
After theSoviet re-occupation of Lithuania in 1944, part of the Belarusians of the Vilnius Region resettled in Poland based on the Lithuanian-Polish agreement on the mutual evacuation of the population of 22 September 1944. From 1945, Belarusians from theBSSR arrived in Lithuania for recruitment, construction projects, etc. Their number increased from 30,000 in 1959 to 63,000 in 1989; however, they had practically no organized national life.Piotra Sierhijevič,Zośka Vieras,Liavhon Luckievič,Janka Šutovič, and others continued their activities in Vilnius.[3]
The activation of public life of the Belarusian national minority in Lithuania began during the liberalization of socio-political life in the USSR (second half of the 1980s), when a number of Belarusian cultural and educational organizations emerged, including "Siabryna". Since 1989, Belarusian programs have been broadcast on radio and television in Lithuania.[3]
After the declaration of independence of Lithuania and Belarus and the collapse of the USSR in 1991–96, more than 7,600 Belarusians returned from Lithuania to the Republic of Belarus, and 3,800 of its residents moved to Lithuania from Belarus. According to Lithuanian statistical data, in the mid-1990s, more than 50,000 Belarusians lived in Lithuania (mainly in the Vilnius Region) (1.5% of the country's population). In early 1998, 15 Belarusian organizations conducted cultural and educational work in Lithuania (in Vilnius,Druskininkai,Visaginas,Šalčininkai,Švenčionys, etc.), including the Society of Belarusian Culture and theSociety of the Belarusian Language. Since 1993, theFrancysk Skaryna Gymnasium has been operating in Vilnius. Exhibitions of works by Belarusian artists, festivals of Belarusian songs are held in Visaginas and other cities of Lithuania, and Belarusian-language periodicals are published.[3]
The provision of conditions for the free development of the native language, preservation of traditions, performance of religious rites, and protection of the legal rights of Belarusian citizens in Lithuania is provided for by the Treaty on Good Neighborliness and Cooperation between Belarus and Lithuania (1995), the Belarusian-Lithuanian intergovernmental agreement on the protection of their citizens on the territory of both countries (1996), on the guarantee of their rights in the field of pension provision (1994), and others.[3]
Following the fraudulent2020 Belarusian presidential election and the subsequent brutal crackdown on protests, Lithuania became a primary destination for Belarusian political refugees. This wave of migration was fundamentally different from the Soviet-era labor migration, as it consisted largely of political activists, journalists, IT professionals, and businesses relocating to safety.
Major Belarusian tech companies, such asWargaming,EPAM Systems, and Flo Health, relocated thousands of employees to Vilnius. By early 2023, the number of Belarusian citizens in Lithuania had doubled compared to 2020.[4]
However, the situation changed after theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While Lithuania continued to support the Belarusian democratic opposition led bySviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (who is based in Vilnius), public sentiment and government policy towards ordinary Belarusians became more restrictive. In 2023–2024, Lithuanian authorities designated over 2,000 Belarusians as threats to national security (often due to prior service in theBelarusian army or state structures), resulting in the revocation of residence permits.[4]
Tensions were further inflamed by the rise ofLitvinism—a fringe pseudo-historical theory claiming that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was exclusively Belarusian, perceived by Lithuanian society as a threat to its heritage and history. This led to scepticism with regards to some parts of the diaspora, exemplified by the pressure on the Belarusian-owned bar "Pahonia" in Vilnius, which was forced to rebrand as "Poliklinika" in 2025 due to hostility.[5]
As of April 1, 2025, the number of Belarusian citizens with valid residence permits in Lithuania stood at 53,739, a decrease of nearly 15% compared to the previous year. This decline is attributed to stricter migration laws, including proposals to revoke permits for frequent travel to Belarus, which heavily affects the transport sector (around 36,000 Belarusians work as truck drivers in Lithuania).[2]
The identity of the autochthonous Slavic population in southeastern Lithuania is complex. EthnologistYury Vnukovich defines the situation in theVilnius Region as an "ethnic anomaly." While localLithuanians are identified by their language, for the local Slavic speakers, their everyday language is not a primary marker of ethnicity.[6]
The vernacular spoken by this group is known asprostaya mova ("simple speech"), an uncodified dialect with a Belarusian linguistic base and significant borrowings from Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian. Polish linguistMirosław Jankowiak [pl] attested that many inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak this Belarusian dialect.[7]
However, speakers ofprostaya mova often identify asPoles. Research indicates thatreligion serves as the primary boundary marker: the local population strictly categorizes Catholics as Poles andOrthodox believers as Belarusians (or Russians).[6]
According to the 2011 census, the linguistic situation among ethnic Belarusians in Lithuania was as follows:
The number of ethnic Belarusians has been steadily declining since the collapse of the USSR due to assimilation and emigration, while the number of Belarusian citizens (migrants) has fluctuated.
Ethnic Belarusians in Lithuania (Census data):[8][1]
| Year | Population | % of total |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 30,256 | 1.11% |
| 1989 | 63,169 | 1.71% |
| 2001 | 42,866 | 1.23% |
| 2011 | 36,227 | 1.19% |
| 2021 | 28,183 | 1.01% |
There are several organizations aimed at preserving Belarusian culture, united under the Association of Belarusian Public Organizations in Lithuania. Vilnius has once again become a major center for Belarusian culture and civil society in exile.
Funding: Under Lithuanian law, residents can allocate 1.2% of their income tax to NGOs. In 2024, Belarusians in Lithuania donated over €15,000 toNasha Niva and nearly €10,000 to the Belarusian House via this mechanism.[11]
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