CHANGES IN THE ETHNIC STRUCTURES IN THE BALTIC COUNTRIES

The aim of this paper is to present changes in the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and to analyze the demographic developments of titular ethnicities and ethnic minorities. The paper reports from study of ethnic developments since the regained political independence in the beginning of the 1990s. A sudden reversal of the migration and natural reproduction processes changed the population proportion of titular ethnicities, Slavs and other minorities. In the 1990s and the beginning of this century the total number of population of ethnic Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians has decreased, however, the proportion of titular ethnicities has increased, The Baltic States have one of the highest population loss indicators in the world.The excess of deaths over births has been since 1991, and emigration is strongly prevailing in international migration processes, particularly among minorities. The age structure of minorities is relatively older than the structure of titular ethnicities. The largest minority by size are Russians, Poles (great majory of them reside in Lithuania), Belarussians and the Ukrainians. Demographic characteristics (level of ageing, fertility, mortality, net migration, etc.) of main ethnic groups will be presented in the paper.