Lithuania

ENLithuanian official censuses routinely include a question on religious identity/affiliation. In 2001, 2,860 residents of Lithuania, or less than 0.1% of the total population of over three million, identified themselves as Sunni Muslims (no data on Shi’is available), of whom 1,679 (or 58.7%) were ethnic Tatars, 362 (12.6%) Azerbaijanis, 185 Lithuanians and 74 Russians. According to preliminary results of the 2011 Census, the number of Muslims has dropped to 2,700.3 The 2011 Census showed that the biggest ethnic groups traditionally associated with Muslim background have also shrunk: Tatars to 2,793, from 3,235 (a 13.7% decrease) and Azerbaijanis to 648 from 788 (even a bigger decrease of 17.8%).4 Around two-thirds of Lithuania’s Muslims are concentrated in the capital city Vilnius, the second largest city Kaunas and the districts surrounding these cities. Tatars, known as “Lithuanian Tatars” have been living in Lithuania (especially the eastern part of today’s Republic of Lithuania) since the fourteenth century when they started settling in what was the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, primarily as mercenaries and refu- gees. They were given land by the Lithuanian rulers whom they served. Although over time Lithuanian Tatars lost their mother tongue, they retained their religion and survived as a distinct ethno-cultural yet well integrated group.