Last year Lithuania lost as many residents as its town Utena, but there was a decrease in emigration

Head of Lithuania's Department of Statistics Vilija Lapeniene said that there has been a decrease in emigration and an increase in birthrate in the country, but that the mortality rate also increased. Due to non-international migration and negative natural changes the population of Lithuania decreased by 27.4 thousand, which is roughly equal to the Lithuanian town Utena. In Lithuania in 2013 over forty thousand emigrants declared their departure from the country. Compared with 2012, that number of emigrants decreased by more than seven hundred people, or 1.7 percent. In 2013, nearly twenty four thousand people took up residence in Lithuania, nearly twenty one thousand of which were previous residents returning to the country.