Why Almost Nobody Lives In The Baltic Countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)

Why Almost Nobody Lives In The Baltic Countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)

Europe is very densely populated with over 700 million people. But tucked into the far northeastern corner of the continent are three countries, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Perhaps better known as the Baltics. And this region has a minuscule combined population of just over 6 million. This is about 1/3 the population of the single and tiny country of the Netherlands. So why don’t more people live in the Baltics? Our answer begins with a very unique set of geographic circumstances. [Music] When you think of the Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, you’re likely picturing a very specific corner of Northern Europe, defined by the sea that gives them their name. But more than that, you’re actively thinking about a unique cultural region within Europe. One that is more geographically isolated than perhaps any other part of the continent. You see, this region is part of the vast East European plane, a landscape shaped not by dramatic mountains such as the Alps or Pyrenees, but by the slow, grinding power of ancient ice sheets. As the glaciers retreated thousands of years ago, they left behind a terrain that is overwhelmingly flat, dotted with countless lakes, crisscrossed by rivers, and cloaked in dense forests. All three countries are part of this specific geographic feature along with Ukraine, Bellarus, nearly all of western Russia and just a small portion of northwest Poland. And because of this, the entire region shares a common climate which is largely temperate caught between both maritime and continental influences. The Baltic Sea acts as a massive temperature regulator, making winters milder than you might expect. Though all three countries get a fair amount of snow. This isn’t to say that all three countries are exactly the same, though. In fact, each has unique characteristics. Estonia, the northernmost of the three, is perhaps best defined by its relationship with the water. Its coastline is long and deeply indented, but its most distinct feature is the West Estonian archipelago. This collection of over 900 islands lies just off the mainland. With Sarama and Hia being the largest, this archipelago is a world unto itself. With a unique culture, sparse population, and landscapes of juniper fields and coastal meadows, and of course, Estonia’s geography is also marked by Lake Pipus, the fifth largest lake in Europe, which forms a massive natural border with Russia. Its highest point, Surunamei, rises just 318 meters above sea level, making it one of the lowest elevation countries in Europe, lower than even the Netherlands. Heading south into Latvia, the landscape remains fairly low. But the focus shifts to its rivers and the prominent Gulf of Ria, a large sheltered bay of the Baltic Sea that carves deeply into the country’s coastline. If Estonia is a land of islands, Latafia is a land of drainage basins with the Dalgava River being the most significant, flowing from its source in Russia through Bellarus and bisecting the country before emptying into the Gulf at the capital city of Ria. Entirely within its borders lies one of its most cherished national treasures, Gaia National Park. Often called the Switzerland of Lapia for its slightly more rugged terrain, the park protects the stunning valley of the Gao River, featuring reddish Deonian sandstone cliffs, caves, and dense forests. Finally, in Lithuania, the southernmost country of the Baltics, the forests become even more prominent, covering nearly a third of the country. And where Estonia is islands and Latafia as rivers, Lithuania is very much a land of lakes with nearly 6,000 spread across its terrain, particularly in the east. And while it has the shortest coastline of the three, it boasts one of Europe’s most remarkable coastal features, the Coronian Spit. This narrow 98 km long sand dune separates the Coronian lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. A fragile and beautiful ecosystem that Lithuania shares with Russia’s Kinenrad blast. The Baltics share an incredible geography. And while they’re all connected and all share similar traits as their neighbors, each is also unique in its own way. For this reason, it’s perhaps a bit unfair to lump all three countries with each other constantly as a single regional unit called the Baltics. But then, if it’s not necessarily geography that binds them together, their shared history certainly does. Just as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania forged their own unique paths, many of you are likely forging your own as entrepreneurs and creators. And while you could navigate the complex world of business formation all by yourself, that means you’re not putting value on your most important asset as a business owner, your time. That’s where today’s sponsor, Taylor Brands, comes in. Taylor Brands is a business builder with everything that you need to guarantee your business is set up for success. And a crucial step for many is forming an LLC, which separates your personal assets from your business assets. Believe me, this is so important. And Taylor Brands makes it so easy. But also, when you register with Taylor Brands, you don’t just get an LLC. You get an entire dashboard of tools that will guide you to grow your business with confidence. This includes a free business plan, a business coaching program, access to legal documents, tools for invoicing and bookkeeping, and even a logo, website, and business card designer. It’s an all-in-one platform that helps you achieve your business goals faster and smarter. So, check out Taylor Brands and get 35% off using my link in the description. [Music] Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania do not have the nicest, easiest, or most enviable of histories. In fact, these three countries have been raided, wared with, and conquered countless times throughout history, spanning from the Middle Ages all the way into the modern era. But make no mistake, while these three are often grouped together, their paths to the present have been distinct and different. Yet, repeatedly, they’ve also been forced together by the ambitions of larger powers. But let’s go all the way back to the ancient peoples who lived in the Baltics. The ancient history of each country or the precursors of them began on separate tracks. In fact, the ancestors of modern Latvians and Lithuanians were Baltic tribes while Estonians actually descended from Finn Ugric peoples. Something that becomes much more obvious if you can tell the difference between the Latafian and Lithuanian languages and the Estonian language. Regardless, for centuries, these groups lived a largely pagan existence on the forested shores of the Baltic Sea, and they were mostly left alone by the rising kingdoms and empires of medieval Europe. This changed dramatically, however, beginning in the 1200s. German crusaders, the Tutonic Knights in Levonian order, conquered the lands of present-day Latafia and Estonia, imposing Christianity and establishing a German-speaking aristocracy that would dominate the region for centuries. This is where things get a little weird, though, because the Tutonic Knights and Leavonian Order weren’t really countries in the traditional sense. It was more of a religious institution and military force helmed by a grandmaster rather than a king. It all gets a bit wonky from here, so we’ll just move on. But just know that it’s different. But that was just Estonia and Latvia. Lithuania’s story diverged significantly. Instead of succumbing to the crusaders, it resisted and forged the powerful Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which grew to become the largest state in Europe at the time, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Through its union with Poland in 1569, it formed the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, a major player in European politics for over 200 years. This divergence in histories eventually ended though. The rising power of the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Sweden led to centuries of conflict fought across Baltic lands. By the late 1700s, through a series of wars and partitions, the Russian Empire had absorbed all three territories. For more than a century, they were provinces of a vast empire that sought to impose its language and culture, a policy known as rousification. Yet, this period of shared domination also planted the seeds of a shared future. During the 1800s, all three countries began a national awakening as intellectuals and artists rediscovered their native languages, folklore, and history, forging distinct national identities in defiance of imperial rule. This was a very important period of time for the Baltics because it would directly lead to the countries we see today. But that would take one other big event to occur. The collapse of the Russian Empire during World War I provided a window of opportunity. In 1918, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declared their independence, enjoying two decades of sovereignty. Unfortunately, this freedom was tragically short-lived. The 1939 Molotov Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union secretly condemned them to Soviet occupation. What followed was one of the darkest periods in European history. First a year of Soviet terror followed by 3 years of brutal Nazi occupation and then nearly half a century of renewed Soviet rule after World War II. This shared trauma, mass deportations, the suppression of culture, and the fight to keep their identity alive is where their modern bond was forged. And then during the late 1980s, this collective spirit of resistance erupted in the singing revolution, a series of mass non-violent demonstrations. Its most iconic moment was the Baltic way in 1989 when 2 million people formed a human chain stretching across all three countries demanding freedom. Thankfully, they wouldn’t have to endure much longer as each regained their independence in 1990 and 1991 and decisively turned towards the West, joining both NATO and the European Union in 2004. It’s now been over three decades since each country achieved its independence. And throughout it all, they’ve each modernized and become fairly stable and fairly wealthy. So, why do they still have such small populations despite being relatively large countries? [Music] Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are quite large. They’re not the largest, of course, but they have much more space than Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, or Belgium. Yet, a glance at their population reveals something weird. Combined, these three countries have a population of just over 6 million people. To put that in perspective, Finland, their neighbor to the north, has a population of nearly 5.6 6 million alone. So why across a land mass larger than Greece, home to over 11 million, do so few people live in the Baltic countries? The answer is not a single event, but a tragic convergence of history and modern economics. You see, during World War II, the Baltic states weren’t just taken over. They were an active and awful battleground caught between the armies of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. And because of this, they suffered immense casualties. not only from combat but also from the Holocaust which annihilated the once thriving Jewish communities in each country. The war didn’t just take lives, it shattered the demographic foundations of these countries. What followed the war created a second catastrophe. Upon reoccupying the region in 1944, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin initiated a campaign of terror to crush all resistance and sovietize the population. This included the mass deportation of hundreds of thousands of Estonians, Latians, and Lithuanians. On the low end, it’s estimated that 124,000 men, women, and children were packed into cattle cars and shipped to Siberian gulogs and remote settlements or executed outright. And of course, many of these people perished during the journey to exile. This policy deliberately targeted the educated and civic elite, teachers, farmers, politicians, and artists, ripping the heart out of Baltic society, and creating a demographic vacuum that would be felt for generations. Armed resistance against the Soviets, carried on by the Forest Brothers partisans into the 1950s, further drained the population of young men. So, while the West had a baby boom, the Baltics experienced a drastic population decline. Following the restoration of independence in 1991, a new challenge emerged. The transition from a centrally planned communist system to a market economy was difficult. While ultimately successful, the 1990s were a time of economic hardship and uncertainty. There simply wasn’t enough capital and money interested in the region to spur an economic resurgence in the same way that East Germany had. And so people continued to suffer and the population remained small. And then when the Baltic states joined the European Union in 2004, the population began to change again. And not in a good way. You see, the opening of borders and labor markets across Europe created a massive wave of immigration. Hundreds of thousands of people, particularly the young and ambitious, left for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and the Nordic countries in search of higher wages and greater opportunities. This was not a flight from oppression, but an economic migration that significantly accelerated population decline. And we can actually track this phenomenon, too. Between 1989 and 2024, Estonia lost nearly 200,000 people, going from nearly 1.6 million to 1.4 4 million people. Latafia went from 2.7 million to under 1.9 million. And Lithuania went from 3.7 million people to 2.9 million. All told, over the last three decades, the Baltics have lost 1.8 million people. That’s a huge amount for countries that are already small. And to compound the issue, like much of the rest of Europe, the Baltic states have also experienced low birth rates for decades, often falling below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. This trend, combined with the continuous immigration of young people of childbearing age, has resulted in an aging population. Fewer births and a steady stream of people leaving have created a perfect storm of demographic decline. Now, all this said, the Baltics have begun to turn their fortunes around a bit. Estonia, for example, has been growing in population since 2011. Nothing earthshattering, but significant. Lithuania has also been growing since 2020. Only Latvia has yet to record a population growth since 1989, but given the trajectory of its siblings, it’s probably due to begin one any year now. So unlike Finland in the north which maintained its sovereignty after World War II, the Baltic countries endured half a century of population crushing Soviet policy. This combined with the modern economic reality of EU migration is the primary reason why these three countries have such a small population today despite being an otherwise very modern European country to live in. And so there you have it. A combination of historic and brutal oppression combined with modern economic polls has put all three countries on the losing end of population growth. But here’s the good news. The Baltics are having a bit of a moment. Tourism, wealth, and quality of life are up across all three countries. And when you have that combination, people aren’t far behind. Speaking of the Baltics, I’m in Latafia this week and I was in Talin Estonia last week. And over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be in Ria and Vnius. And if you want to see what these countries look and feel like today, then you should come join me over on my travel channel. Once again, thanks to Taylor Brands for sponsoring today’s video. Maximize your success and get 35% off their services by using my link in the description. I hope you enjoyed learning all about the Baltics. If you did, be sure to check out this video all about the Danish realm. Thanks for watching. See you next time.

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Europe is home to more than 700 million people, making it the most densely populated continent. Almost everywhere you go, you’ll run into densely packed towns and cities. But one region is surprisingly empty: the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Less than 1% of Europe’s population lives in these three countries. And even Finland, far more north and far colder, has as many people are all three Baltics countries combined. So why do so few people live in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania?

In this video, we’ll cover the extensive geography of all three countries, the deep and shockingly dark history of how each became the countries they are today, and, finally, why so few people live there today despite each being modern and fairly wealthy countries within the European Union.

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net.

If you think there’s been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

This has been a production of Sound Bight Media (soundbight.com)