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This statistic shows the total population of the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from 1950 to 2025. Although the populations are quite different, all three countries followed a relatively similar trend throughout the last seventy years. Each country's population was devastated during the Second World War, Lithuania losing over 14 percent of the population, and Latvia and Estonia losing 12.5 percent and 7.3 percent respectively. In 1950 the populations were at around 2.5, two, and one million people respectively, and all three populations grew steadily until 1990 (although Estonia's grew at a slower rate than the other two countries).

Independence movements

After the Second World War, the three Baltic states were annexed by the Soviet Union. When the Soviet economy began failing in the 1980s, these states became increasingly dissatisfied with Soviet policies in the region. With growing nationalism in the area, the countries coordinated peaceful protests aimed at restoring independence to the region, in what would become known as the Singing Revolution.

Large declines following independence

In early 1990s, all three countries became independent from the Soviet Union, and this change coincides with the drops in population. By 1995, the populations of each country had dropped, and at a faster rate in Estonia and Latvia than in Lithuania. This decline has continued for the past 30 years, with the numbers falling at every five year interval for each country. By 2020, Estonia's population had dropped by approximately 240,000 people, Latvia's by nearly 780,000, and Lithuania's by almost 900,000. The fall of the Soviet Union, combined with the Baltic nations joining the EU in 2004, meant that emigration was much easier and many from the Baltics went to Western Europe. In most recent years, however, the region showed some signs of stablization and even slight growth in population size driven partly by return migration and immigration.