Country statistics

34 out of 189 in Human Development Rating index
(UNDP, 2019) 

Average annual salary per person $19, 410 (World Bank, 2021)

20.6% of the population living below the national poverty line (UNDP, 2019) 

Bordering Belarus, Latvia, Poland, and Russia, Lithuania has a population of 2.71 million. 68.2% of the population live in urban areas, with 25% working in industry. Although Lithuania has a steadily growing economy, youth unemployment is still prevalent at 19.6%. It has been found that there is a steady outflow of young and highly educated people is causing a shortage of skilled labour, this combined with a rapidly aging population has put an increased strain on public services (CIA Factbook, 2019). 

Lithuania reported 4000 homeless people in 2017, which is a reduction from 2012 when there were almost 5000 homeless people. While this is substantial progress, there are still issues with combating homelessness, including the number of evictions from social housing is increasing, there is low-level reliability of funding for social protection housing, the duration of stay in shelters is insufficient (3 day maximum), and social housing is difficult to obtain (Borgen Project, 2020). 

Lithuania was one of the hardest hit European countries following the 2008 financial crisis, leading to a significant rise in poverty (Borgen Project, 2017). In 2015 it was found that Lithuania had one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the world, with 10% of the population suffering from an alcohol abuse disorder (Borgen Project, 2017).

Many homeless people do not fit criteria to be provided shelters since those with tuberculosis or mental illnesses, as well as those who are intoxicated, are not accepted. This often leads to people freezing to death in winter (EOH, 2014).