The Number of Lithuanians in Ukraine According to the Censuses of the 19th – 21st Centuries

Abstract

Abstract. On the basis of population censuses covering the Ukrainian territory at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, the article overviews the dynamics of the number of Lithuanians and reveals statistical regularities. The importance and relevance of this study are seen in the fact that Lithuanians are not an accidental ethnic group on the territory of Ukraine. The relationships between the two nations have been evolving since the time of the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Both the ethnic Lithuanian lands and most of the Ukrainian lands fell into the hands of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century, and in the post-war years of the second half of the 20th century were a part of the totalitarian USSR. Lithuanians are still actively present in the modern ethnic palette of Ukraine, which is why it is interesting to investigate the numbers of this particular ethnic group within the territory of Ukraine. The main source of research is the population censuses conducted by the Russian Empire, Poland (1920s–1930s), the USSR, and independent Ukraine. The factors that influenced the quantitative changes of the studied ethnic group are indicated, and the ethno-demographic situation depicted in the censuses and its reasons are analysed.