Lietuvos kaimo gyvenamųjų vietovių tinklo kaitos tendencijos XXI amžiuje / ; The Trends of Change in the Rural Settlements network in Lithuania during the 21st Century.

The paper examines the evolution of the rural settlement system in Lithuania during the 21st century, with a particular focus on the changes that occurred from 2011 to 2021. This study is based on data obtained from population censuses conducted in 2001, 2011, and 2021, provided by the State Data Agency, as well as data from the State Enterprise Centre of Registers. The research has revealed that the ongoing process of rural settlement transformation and territorial polarization in Lithuania, which began in the late 20th century, persists. In many cases, the directions and trends in population changes closely resemble those observed in the previous decade. These recurrent patterns are evident both in the general demographic trends and in regional development. The results of this study showed that the population declined in 70.7 percent of all rural settlements during the years 2011–2021. In 21.7 percent of these settlements, the population increased, while in 7.5 percent, it remained stable. When compared to the previous decade, there was a slight reduction (3.2 percentage points) in the number of settlements experiencing population decline, and accordingly, the proportion of settlements with a growing population increased. In total, over the period of 2001–2021, the population decreased in 82.5 percent of rural settlements, increased in 13.9 percent, and remained stable in 3.5 percent of all rural settlements. The observed trends indicate that the changes in specific groups of settlements during both 2001–2011 and 2011–2021 exhibited remarkable similarities. The population increased in the category of the largest rural settlements, while a majority of the smaller settlements experienced population decline, with approximately 80 percent of them affected. Alongside this population decrease, a portion of the smallest settlements faced extinction, with 42.8 percent of them disappearing during the 2001–2021 period. When examining regional trends of change, it becomes evident that approximately one-third of rural ...