The Situation of Children and Young People at the Regional Level in Lithuania Prepared by Lithuania Country Statistical Team Co-ordinator: Vida Stoskute Statistics Lithuania, Vilnius MONEE Country Analytical Report November 2004 The project to monitor the impact of economic and social change on children in Eastern and Central Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (MONEE) was initiated at the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in 1992. The project seeks to monitor, analyse and disseminate information on economic and social trends affecting children’s rights and wellbeing in countries in the region. A key feature of the Project is a network of correspondents in the 27 National Statistical Offices (NSOs). On an annual basis these correspondents complete an extensive data template which in turn is used for calculating indicators, supporting research of the project and, in due course, being made publicly available as the TransMonee database and in tables and graphs of the Innocenti Social Monitor. For a number of years, each participating NSO prepared a Country Analytical Report based on extensive outline from UNICEF IRC on a different theme on the situation of children every year. These analytical reports have provided valuable input into the research at UNICEF IRC and, as significantly, have also served as important national documents on monitoring aspects of child wellbeing in the countries. Some of these Country Analytical Reports have been issued by the NSOs (in the national language) as part of their publication programme. UNICEF IRC attaches great value to these national assessments of the situation of children and is committed to promote the efforts, including through translating the reports into English (where the submitted report has been in Russian) and offering its website to make them accessible to a wider research audience. The Country Analytical Reports are owned and authored by the National Statistical Offices and are not the intellectual property of UNICEF (see below). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or view of UNICEF. The text has not been edited for official publication standards and UNICEF accepts no responsibility for errors. The designations in this publication do not imply an opinion on legal status of any country or territory, or of its authorities, or the delimitation of frontiers . 1 STATISTICS LITHUANIA THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN LITHUANIA BY REGIONS Vilnius 2004 2 1. INTRODUCTION Administrative territorial Division of the Republic of Lithuania Since 1995, based on the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Territorial Administrative Units and their Borders the territory of Lithuania has been divided into administrative units: counties and municipalities. There are 10 counties, as follows: Alytus, Kaunas, Klaip ÷da, Marijampol ÷, Panev ÷žys, Šiauliai, Taurag ÷, Telšiai, Utena and Vilnius. At the beginning of 2004 the territory of the Republic of Lithuania comprised 10 counties and 60 municipalities. Territories of the counties included the following municipalities: The Alytus county included municipalities of Alytus town, Alytus district, Druskininkai, Lazdijai district, Var ÷na district; The Kaunas county included municipalities of Birštonas, Jonava district, Kaišiadorys district, Kaunas city, Kaunas district, K ÷dainiai district, Prienai district, Raseiniai district; The Klaip ÷da county included municipalities of Klaip ÷da town, Klaip ÷da district, Neringa, Palanga town, Skuodas district, Šilut ÷ district; The Marijampol ÷ county included municipalities of Kalvarija, Kazl ų R ūda, Marijampol ÷, Šakiai district, Vilkaviškis district; The Panev ÷žys county included municipalities of Biržai district, Kupiškis district, Panevežys town, Panevežys district, Pasvalys district, Rokiškis district; The Šiauliai county included municipalities of Akmen ÷ district, Joniškis district, Kelm ÷ district, Pakruojis district, Radviliškis district, Šiauliai town, Šiauliai district; The Taurag ÷ county included municipalities of Jurbarkas district, Pag ÷giai, Šilal ÷ district, Taurag ÷ district; The Telšiai county included municipalities of Mažeikiai district, Plung ÷ district, Rietavas, Telšiai district; The Utena county included municipalities of Anykš čiai district, Ignalina district, Mol ÷tai district, Utena district, Visaginas, Zarasai district; The Vilnius county included municipalities of Elektr ÷nai, Šal čininkai district, Širvintos district, Šven čionys district, Trakai district, Ukmerg ÷ district, Vilnius city, Vilnius district. The administrative units consist from residential areas. The residential areas of the Republic of Lithuania are divided into urban and rural residential areas. Towns are attributed to urban residential areas and small towns and villages are attributed to rural residential areas. There are 103 cities and towns and 21.8 rural type settlements. The municipalities (but not all of them) are divided into wards. The wards are structural territorial unit of the municipal administration. Municipalities covered 506 “seni ūnija” (or wards - the smallest administrative units), of which 469 were rural ones. NUTS1 – Lithuania NUTS2 – Lithuania NUTS3 – counties (10) NUTS4 – municipalities (60) NUTS5 – neighbourhood (506) 3 2. POPULATION AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE At the outset of 2004 in Lithuania lived 3445.9 thousand inhabitants. Counties of Lithuania differ greatly in the number of population. A quarter of the population has been concentrated in the Vilnius county while one-fifth in the Kaunas county. The smallest counties are Taurag ÷, Telšiai, Utena, Alytus and Marijampol ÷. They count from 3.9 to 5.4 per cent of the population. The number of the population has declined since 1995 by 197.1 thousand or 5 per cent. During this period changes in the number of population in counties was not even. The most visible decrease was recorded in such counties as Utena (8.9 per cent), Panev ÷žys (6.9 per cent), Alytus (6.6 per cent), Kaunas (6.5 per cent) and Šiauliai (6.3 per cent), while the least fall was observed in such counties as Klaip ÷da and Telšiai (by 3.6 per cent in each), Marijampol ÷ (3.9 per cent), Vilnius (4.1 per cent) and Taurag ÷ (5 per cent). At the beginning of 2004 the number of females was by 228.5 thousand higher than that of males (1837.2 thousand and 1608.7 thousand, respectively). Females accounted for 53.3 per cent of total population and per 1000 males there fell 1142 females (1121 at the beginning of 1995). At the beginning of 2004 the ratio of males and females in counties was uneven. The bulk of females per 1000 males fell in such counties as Kaunas (1168), Vilnius (1166), Panev ÷žys (1145) and Šiauliai (1136), while the least number was recorded in such counties as Alytus (1092), Marijampol ÷ (1100) and Taurag ÷ (1107). At the outset of 2004 cities counted 2297.4 thousand (66.7 per cent) of the country’s population. Other 1148.5 thousand (or 33.3 per cent) lived in rural areas. The number of urban population within the period of 1995-2004 contracted by 160.8 thousand or 6.5 per cent. Counties differ greatly in terms of the number of urban population. At the beginning of 2004 Vilnius county towns counted even 78.2 per cent of the county’s population, Klaip ÷da 73.1, Kaunas 72.2, while towns of the Taurag ÷ county had just 40.8 and the Marijampol ÷ county 49.4 per cent of the population. Five largest cities (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaip ÷da, Šiauliai and Panev ÷žys) have accumulated over half of the country’s population (59 per cent). At the beginning of 2004 in the Vilnius city there lived 541.1 thousand inhabitants (23.6 per cent of urban or 15.7 per cent of Lithuania’s population) and in Kaunas 368.9 thousand (16.1 per cent of urban or 10.7 per cent of the country’s population). Density of the population in Lithuania is 53 persons per square kilometre. Territorial location of the largest cities makes an impact on the population density in counties. The most densely populated counties are: Vilnius (87 persons per square kilometre), Kaunas (86), Klaip ÷da (74), while the least densely populated ones are: Utena (25) and Taurag ÷ (30). Average age of Lithuania’s males is by 4.8 years shorter than that of females, i.e. at the beginning of 2004 average age of males was 35.4 years and that of females 40.2 years. Average age of males in all counties is lower than that of females. The difference is most visible in Utena (5.3 years) and Panev ÷žys (5.2 years) counties, while the least notable difference is in counties of Klaip ÷da (4.3 years) and Vilnius (4.6 years). With a decline in the number of population in Lithuania age composition of the population has also altered. The number of children (aged 0–17 years) has been rapidly decreasing. At the beginning of 2004 in Lithuania lived 775.2 thousand children, i.e. 22.5 per cent of total population. Over the nine-year period the number of children has contracted by more than one-fifth. The share of children as compared 4 with the total number of population in counties was the highest in counties of Telšiai (26.0 per cent), Taurag ÷ (25.6 per cent) and Marijampol ÷ (25.1 per cent), while the lowest one in counties of Vilnius (20.6 per cent), Utena (21.4 per cent) and Kaunas (21.8 per cent). The number of children decreased in all counties during the period of 1995–2004: by more than a quarter in the Vilnius county and by almost one-fifth in Kaunas and Utena counties. At the outset of 2004 the working-age population in Lithuania accounted for 60.9 per cent as compared with the total number of population. Distribution of this age population by county is not even. The bulk of the working-age population fell per Vilnius (63.8 per cent), Klaip ÷da (61.7 per cent) and Kaunas (61.3 per cent) counties. The share of elderly population (aged 60 years and over) as compared with the total number of population has been on the increase, i.e.