Another big factor is that Vilnius holds only 16% of Lithuania residents + Lithuania is biggest in population while Tallinn and Riga make up around third of countries' population. That gives a fact that Vilnius has better chances to grow.

Very true, reality is that Lithuania has 3.6 million inhabitants which is roughly triple that of say Estonia. Internal migration will be the engine for population growth in Vilnius. I have seen it happen with Zagreb in Croatia which in the 80s had 700,000 and now the city has 950,000 and the Metro area approximately 1,150,000 and growing each year. Also the 'centralisation trend' alluded to by Dompcz is another phenomenon I have seen with Zagreb.

Vilnius is Lithuania's face to the world and will attract the largest amount of investment and therefore the internal migrants will follow.

Estonia & Latvia really need to pursue some decentralisation policies because if they don't they will have a major city and an empty country.

@Sabunjar, there are natural processes which are impossible to stop, they just happen and any attempts to influence them create big loss and stop development. Each country has got its own development history - Lithuania has more decentralised country with several larger centres by nature (it just somehow happened), while Latvia is extremely centralised by nature. This does not mean that one or another is worse, we are just different.

@Sabunjar, there are natural processes which are impossible to stop, they just happen and any attempts to influence them create big loss and stop development. Each country has got its own development history - Lithuania has more decentralised country with several larger centres by nature (it just somehow happened), while Latvia is extremely centralised by nature. This does not mean that one or another is worse, we are just different.

It isn't a question of being better or worse, I just don't think it is healthy if one city totally dominates and effectively makes up that country. It is OK for Singapore which is a city state but say Latvia has an approximate area of 64,600 sq km, if everything is concentrated in Riga that means that other parts of the country are underutilised and opportunities are being missed.

When it comes to Croatia I want to see more decentralisation even to the extent that certain government ministries are relocated from Zagreb to regional cities. For instance Ministry of Agriculture to Osijek, Ministry of Tourism to Split, Ministry of Maritime & Transport to Rijeka.

I think its better to have as many different regional areas who also develop their own specialities. Diversification = Risk Reduction. Also with improved transport links, getting from one city to another is easier, so you don't feel left out of the 'big city' if you say live in Daugavpils but can hop on a fast train and be in Riga in an hour or so.

I think Kaunas's decline would be reversed if [hopefully when!] it becomes a rail crossroads between the RailBaltica and Vilnius-Kaunas-[Maybe even Klaipeda]. Go Dvimiestis.

Well, I can but dream...

I think Kaunas's decline would be reversed if [hopefully when!] it becomes a rail crossroads between the RailBaltica and Vilnius-Kaunas-[Maybe even Klaipeda]. Go Dvimiestis.

Well, I can but dream...

This is what I was thinking of - Kaunas might play a bigger role for Lithuania in the future - and so it will gain population and economical importance. I totally agree and acknoledge that Vilnius still is the main centre and a face of Lithuania. But it think the importance will decrease or at least slow down the increase to be such (if Kaunas will develope according to visions and projects like RailBaltica, Dipolis, etc.)

This is what I was thinking of - Kaunas might play a bigger role for Lithuania in the future - and so it will gain population and economical importance. I totally agree and acknoledge that Vilnius still is the main centre and a face of Lithuania. But it think the importance will decrease or at least slow down the increase to be such (if Kaunas will develope according to visions and projects like RailBaltica, Dipolis, etc.)
Maybe you would want it but importance of Vilnius will not decrease, it'll only increase. ;) Kaunas sooner or later will start to grow too but it'll grow much slower than Vilnius.

Well atleast everything looks like it now, we don't know what will happen in far future. :) We should not forget Klaipeda too. Today this city develop faster than Kaunas.

New rendering! Registru centras
http://www.vetruna.lt/get.php?i.488

Definitely, it's a brilliant add to NCC!

registru looks pretty sweet! Im very happy they disgarded that skybridge thing, it looks better without it. Quite similar in principle to helios, lets hope they dont use do the same trick as Helios did with different render...

An appealing medium sized building, I like it.

mesmerizing beauty. who's the architect?
where will it be placed? north of the city center on the other side of the river?

^^ Architect Leonidas Merkinas. This project is marked as "Registru center" in this rendering:
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/3669/1312rw.jpg

All projects which are marked in red are U/C or will be soon U/C (in a couple of months).

I see there is discussion about internal migration. As far as I know Lithuania (and the Baltics as a whole for that matter) has a declining overall population, but do you guys know if there is any in the end of the tunnel? Are there any projections that forecast the end of the decline in Lithuania's population?

Latest update of "Registru center" by Mantaz:
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/9875/dsc36267ri.jpg

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/122/dsc36361pr.jpg

@Dompcz - thanx
@Moolio - i do not live in the Baltics, but as a freak of statistics and demographics i can say that there's no hope to reverse the trend of declining population. the fertility rate is simply too low and it's not a factor that can rise quickly, which would be necessary for to stop the decline (as imigration is not an option yet). i've recently read an interesting projection by a un-related institution according to which by about 2015-2020 the cities in the Baltics will start gaining population and their countrysides will decline even faster then now.

I've marked projects in this aerial view (photo by hanner.lt). Now It'll be easy to imagine where projects are located for those who don't know Vilnius too much. ;)
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5084/dsc04725ms4lz.jpg

@Dompcz - thanx
@Moolio - i do not live in the Baltics, but as a freak of statistics and demographics i can say that there's no hope to reverse the trend of declining population. the fertility rate is simply too low and it's not a factor that can rise quickly, which would be necessary for to stop the decline (as imigration is not an option yet). i've recently read an interesting projection by a un-related institution according to which by about 2015-2020 the cities in the Baltics will start gaining population and their countrysides will decline even faster then now.
Vilnius started to grow in 2004 and Riga with Tallinn will surely start to grow before 2015. As for population of whole countries, it'll take MUCH of time I guess before (if) they will start to grow. :(

/\Tallinn is also growing...

The only thing that can save the Baltics from dwindling populations is mass immigration.

@ch1le: Maybe it is growing, we'll see when we'll get newest population data. So far, latest data which we have is only from begining of 2005 year:
Tallinn city
2003 397 150
2004 396 375
2005 396 010

From such data it's clear that population of Tallinn in 2004 year decreased very little, so it's possible that during 2005 it already grew a little. We'll see that when we'll get data for begining of 2006.

@Svajoklis
It will help alot :D But we can also support families and advise them to get Children, one of our leading politicians - Mart Laar proposed giving 50 000 per child whos born... atm its... 5000. Tallinn already gives more for children, basically... well be "buying" children, but this is a bit evil as some weirdoes will start "Manufacturing" children just to get money, so indeed, this cant be the solution... anyway... its not natural that our population will decline... it will pick up soon, im certain... i plan to get 7 children to help ahah :)
But yeah Immigration, our press has lately been talking alot on the matter - we cant sustain growth unless we start bringing in immigrants. So basically, its not far off when the government will sponsor immigration. It will be hard at first, but it will get better.

btw from Tallinn.ee
population 2004 was 401 502

The only thing that can save the Baltics from dwindling populations is mass immigration.
You are right, but it's freely allowed to immigrate to the Baltics only from other EU countries. As we all know, Baltic states are one of the poorest countries in EU, so it's impossible to have big immigration from other EU countries.
It's possible to have immigration from such non EU countries as Belarus, Ukraine, and other ones, but... Today there are very many restrictions for people from those countries to live/work in the Baltics.

well, we'll see whether in case of vilnius it turns out to be a continious process. but i wish you so...

@Dompcz, true, but theres still ALOT of workers from other EU countries in Tallinn, mainly in the IT sector, thousands and thousands.
immigration from Ukraine, belarus etc, that is happening, for example, hundreds of Poles are working in Tallinn as construction workers, Ukrainians work in the shipbuilding industry - thousands. Tho do they stay here or not? Dont know.

In many parts of Europe people are resorting to migration as a means of making up for poor natural demographic growth.

I think tax exemptions for people with children and subsidised child care is the way to go. I was reading about one locality in Germany where this one done a few years back (there was an article in the Ecoomist) and they went through a baby boom.

Or the alternative for the Lithuanians and Latgallians is a return to traditional Catholic family values and no contraception and every family will have seven little kids running around :)

Population figures can be improved by public money, but it can take decades. Is there a lot of public investment on families?

@Sabunjar

indeed, that religion thing is one of the reasons why there is 3 mio lithuanians and just 1 mio estonians :)

^^ LOL, population of Estonia and Lithuania does not have much to do with religion. ;) Lithuania used to have 4 mio population and if not all those wars and occupations, today we would have had bigger population than Finland for example.

Population figures can be improved by public money, but it can take decades. Is there a lot of public investment on families?
No, atleast in Lithuania public investments to families are small.

No, atleast in Lithuania public investments to families are small.

That's strange. I should think that reversing population trends should be a top priority for the Lithuanian government, especially now that the country is seeing such a strong economical growth.

How's netmigration these days? Are Lithuanian's emigrating still in as large numbers as in the 90s?

Net migration
Lithuanian Republic
1994 -24195
1995 -23668
1996 -23369
1997 -22421
1998 -22122
1999 -20739
2000 -20306
2001 -2559
2002 -1976
2003 -6304
2004 -9612

It's hard to count real migration. I think that the real numbers are much worse.

^^ So what were/are the major destination countries?

How large are their Lithuanian communities?

When was the last census?

^^ So what were/are the major destination countries?

How large are their Lithuanian communities?

When was the last census?

@Sabunjar, I'd say of the top of my head that the USA was the #1 destination country for Lithuanians starting back in the late 19th Century.
Chicago (I think we have as many Lithuanians as Vilnius) New York, Boston, South Florida, and LA are the major concentrations in the US. Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Argentina were also major destinations in the past. In Europe, there are lots of Lithuanians in Germany, Denmark, and of course I think that the UK is the #1 destination country currently.

^^ Cheers.

I was aware of the US being a major destination in the late 19th & early 20th century. There are some here in Australia, have met a few.

Was wondering more about the recent migrants from the last few years and from the 90s, realistically they are the ones most likely to return home over the course of the next decade. They could be a valuable resource to the Lithuanian economy as they would have picked up language skills, mingled with other cultures, learned new skills etc ... Lithuania needs to have a clear demographic strategy with clear goals over 10, 20 and 30 year intervals.


:cheers:

Wilno jest piękne :cheers: byłem w Wilnie od 18 do 20.05.06, super szybko się rozbudowuje, a przede wszystkim znakomita jest starówka. Bardzo dużo zmieniło się od mojego pobytu w zeszłym roku, szczególnie okolice Hotelu Wilno.

Pozdrawiam :)

Wilno jest piękne :cheers: byłem w Wilnie od 18 do 20.05.06, super szybko się rozbudowuje, a przede wszystkim znakomita jest starówka. Bardzo dużo zmieniło się od mojego pobytu w zeszłym roku, szczególnie okolice Hotelu Wilno.

Pozdrawiam :)
Nic nicego nierozoomiem

Nic nicego nierozoomiem

He said Vilnius is beatiful and changing, but the best of it is oldtown and that most of changed appeared around Hotel Vilnius.

Some update from today

Development of Saltoniškių area (Panorama mall, Saltoniškių business center and reconstruction of interesection Ukmergės - Geležinio Vilko (atm an estacade is being built).
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/8149/dsc43785dv.th.jpg (http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc43785dv.jpg)

Saltoniškių business center
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/1876/dsc43330co.jpg

Construction of estacade
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/5536/dsc43743of.jpg

Some landmarks of the left bank of Neris (Helios tower and Business triangle)
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/751/dsc43640ju.jpg

Helios tower
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1011/dsc43413kd.jpg

Vilnius gate is still waiting for permits for heightening
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/682/dsc43361zo.jpg

Kvartalas project. A soviet dormitory has been renewed and heightened.
http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4479/dsc43770gf.jpg

The construction of the Palace of Rulers
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/240/dsc43483gh.jpg

Center of registers and Vėtrūna towers
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/7381/dsc43269rm.jpg

The plot of the towers
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/1476/dsc43236qq.jpg

The part of parkings and probably center of registers
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/7593/dsc43280pi.jpg

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/6982/dsc43791mj.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/6831/dsc43822wf.jpg

The plot for towers
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/421/dsc43840nk.jpg

This thread needs to be archived too.