Main factors of Lithuania's depopulation – Fr. Krzysztof Bielawny

ㅤ ㅤ

Share of Lithuania's inhabitants in the world population in 1900-2020

ㅤ Chart of the percentage share of Lithuania's inhabitants in the world population in 1900-2020 ㅤ ㅤ THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY WAS CHARACTERIZED BY A FAIRLY HIGH STABILITY OF THE LITHUANIAN POPULATION IN RELATION TO THE WORLD POPULATION. IT WAS ONLY THE SECOND HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THAT SHAKED THE STABILITY OF THE LITHUANIAN POPULATION. TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS OF DEMOGRAPHIC DESTABILIZATION OF LITHUANIANS, LET US LOOK AT FERTILITY RATES. ㅤ

ㅤ AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, THERE WERE ALMOST SIX CHILDREN PER WOMAN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE IN LITHUANIA. HOWEVER, WITH EACH DECADE, FERTILITY RATES DECLINED. DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, THEY DECREASED BY 0.8 POINTS. A RAPID DECLINE IS NOTICED IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. DURING THIS TIME, FERTILITY RATES DECREASED BY 3.65 POINTS. AT THE END OF THE 1970S, THE GENERATIONAL REPLACEMENT OF LITHUANIANS ENDED. FERTILITY RATES IN 1978 FELL TO 2.08. A LITTLE OVER TWO CHILDREN WERE BORN PER WOMAN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE. SINCE 1994, MORE PEOPLE DIE THAN ARE BORN(1). ㅤ ANTI-NATALIST IDEAS ㅤ LITHUANIA REGAINED INDEPENDENCE IN 1918. THE JOY WAS ENORMOUS AMONG LITHUANIANS WHO EXPECTED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR HOMELAND IN MANY AREAS. HOWEVER, VERY QUICKLY, IDEOLOGUES PROPAGATING THE IDEAS OF THE CIVILIZATION OF DEATH APPEARED IN LITHUANIA. THE PROPAGANDA WAS CONDUCTED BY SOCIALISTS WHO SUPPORTED THE ACTIVITIES OF COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONARIES IN THE USSR. EXTREME FEMINISTS PROPAGATED THE REDUCTION OF CHILDREN IN FAMILIES. IDEAS SEEPED THROUGH THE SOCIALIST PRESS AND WHISPERED PROPAGANDA BORE FRUIT. ㅤ ABORTION ㅤ IN LITHUANIA FOR CENTURIES, A WOMAN IN A BLESSED STATE WAS RESPECTED, AND A CHILD IN THE MOTHER'S WOMB WAS A BLESSING FROM GOD. VOLTAIREAN IDEAS REACHED LITHUANIA ALREADY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. DIVORCES, CIVIL UNIONS, AND LATER MEANS DESTROYING LIFE OR PREVENTING ITS CREATION WERE PROPAGATED. IT SHOULD BE ASSUMED THAT ALREADY DURING THE WAR PERIOD, IDEOLOGUES PROPAGATING THE REDUCTION OF CHILDREN IN FAMILIES APPEARED. THESE IDEAS WERE PROPAGATED, AMONG OTHERS, IN THE SOCIALIST PRESS, WHICH REACHED PRIMARILY THE WORKING CLASS. THE IDEAS OF BIRTH CONTROL OR CONSCIOUS MOTHERHOOD WERE PROPAGATED, INCLUDING THROUGH ABORTION. ㅤ BEFORE WORLD WAR II, WITHIN THE BORDERS OF LITHUANIA, ABOUT 600 THOUSAND UNBORN CHILDREN WERE DEPRIVED OF LIFE. ACCORDING TO ROBERT JOHNSTON, IN 1955-2022, ABOUT 1.9 MILLION UNBORN CHILDREN WERE KILLED IN LITHUANIA(2). THE LARGEST NUMBER OF ABORTIONS IN LITHUANIA WAS PERFORMED IN 1988-1992, OVER FIVE YEARS 242,977 UNBORN CHILDREN WERE KILLED, AND 279,013 LIVE CHILDREN WERE BORN(3). IN SUBSEQUENT DECADES, THE NUMBER OF UNBORN CHILDREN DECREASED. IN THE MID-FIRST DECADE OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS PER YEAR FELL BELOW 10 THOUSAND, IN 2022, 2,705 KILLINGS OF UNBORN CHILDREN WERE PERFORMED(4). LITHUANIA'S POPULATION WAS REDUCED BY ABOUT 2 MILLION PEOPLE THROUGH ABORTION. ㅤ IN 1955-2022, 3,039,846 LIVE CHILDREN WERE BORN, AND AT THE SAME TIME, 1,905,961 PEOPLE WERE ABORTED(5). HAD THE UNBORN CHILDREN NOT BEEN KILLED, 4,945,807 PEOPLE COULD HAVE BEEN BORN IN LITHUANIA DURING THAT TIME. UNFORTUNATELY, THE IDEAS OF THE CIVILIZATION OF DEATH DID NOT ALLOW OVER 1.9 MILLION PEOPLE TO COME INTO BEING. ㅤ

Live births and abortions in Lithuania in 1955-2022 (in millions)

ㅤ

ㅤ AT THE BEGINNING OF 2023, PHARMACOLOGICAL ABORTION WAS LEGALIZED IN LITHUANIA. A WOMAN IN A BLESSED STATE, AFTER PRIOR MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS, CAN KILL HER OWN CHILD UP TO 9 WEEKS WITH THE HELP OF TABLETS. THE LITHUANIAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH INFORMED THAT "EXPERIENCES OF OTHER COUNTRIES PROVE THAT WOMEN MORE OFTEN DECIDE ON PHARMACOLOGICAL ABORTION THAN ON SURGICAL. WE EXPECT THAT SIMILAR TENDENCIES WILL ALSO OCCUR IN LITHUANIA"(6). ABORTION HAS REDUCED LITHUANIA'S POPULATION BY ABOUT 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE. ㅤ CONTRACEPTION ㅤ UNTIL 1990, THE LAW OF THE SOVIET UNION WAS IN FORCE IN LITHUANIA. IN THE SOVIET COUNTRY, CONTRACEPTIVE MEANS WERE USED SINCE THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, ALTHOUGH THEY WERE NOT SO POPULAR IN THE FIRST DECADES OF THE USSR'S EXISTENCE(7). IN THE 1960S, CONTRACEPTIVES ARRIVED HERE FROM ABROAD, PRIMARILY FROM POLAND. THE CONTRACEPTIVE REVOLUTION IN LITHUANIA BEGAN ONLY IN THE 1990S. INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST ORGANIZATIONS LAMENT THAT THE USE OF CONTRACEPTIVES IN LITHUANIA IS LOW. ONLY 33.2% OF PEOPLE OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE USE CONTRACEPTIVES. LOW RATES OF CONTRACEPTIVE USE, ACCORDING TO EXTREME FEMINISTS, RESULT FROM LIMITED AVAILABILITY. ㅤ STILL, ABORTION IN LITHUANIA IS COMMON, AND BY MANY PEOPLE IT IS TREATED AS A METHOD OF CONTRACEPTION(8). ㅤ ECONOMIC AND NATURAL EMIGRATION ㅤ IN 1990, LITHUANIA WAS INHABITED BY ABOUT 3.7 MILLION PEOPLE, IN 2023 THE NUMBER OF INHABITANTS FELL TO 2.86 MILLION, WHICH CONSTITUTED A POPULATION LOSS OF 22.7%. SINCE 1990, THE NUMBER OF INHABITANTS HAS DECREASED BY ABOUT 851 THOUSAND PEOPLE. DUE TO ECONOMIC EMIGRATION, ABOUT 587 THOUSAND PEOPLE LEFT LITHUANIA DURING THIS TIME. DUE TO NATURAL CAUSES, MORE PEOPLE DIED THAN WERE BORN, IN LITHUANIA THE POPULATION DECREASED BY ABOUT 264 THOUSAND(9). VICTIMS OF WORLD WAR II. AS A RESULT OF WAR ACTIVITIES DURING WORLD WAR II, THE LITHUANIAN POPULATION DECREASED BY 375 THOUSAND PEOPLE(10). ㅤ NATIONAL GROUPS IN LITHUANIA ㅤ ACCORDING TO THE 2021 CENSUS, IN LITHUANIA THERE LIVED 2.37 MILLION LITHUANIANS (84.6%), POLES 183 THOUSAND (6.3%), RUSSIANS 141 THOUSAND (5%), AND BELARUSIANS 28.1 THOUSAND, WHICH CONSTITUTED (1%). OTHER NATIONAL GROUPS DID NOT EXCEED ONE PERCENT OF THE TOTAL INHABITANTS(11). ㅤ

ㅤ PROJECTED NUMBER OF INHABITANTS OF LITHUANIA WITHOUT HISTORICAL TURBULENCES ㅤ SO, WHAT WOULD BE THE POPULATION OF LITHUANIA WITHOUT HISTORICAL TURBULENCES, IF FERTILITY FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY HAD BEEN MAINTAINED? LET US SEEK AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION. FROM CALCULATIONS CONDUCTED ON THE EXAMPLE OF POLAND, WE MANAGED TO DETERMINE THAT THE WORLD POPULATION IN 2020, WITHOUT HISTORICAL TURBULENCES, WOULD AMOUNT TO ABOUT 13.55 BILLION(12). ㅤ IN 1900, THE SHARE OF LITHUANIA'S INHABITANTS IN THE WORLD POPULATION WAS 0.11%. SO, IF THIS SHARE HAD BEEN MAINTAINED AT A SIMILAR LEVEL FOR OVER 100 YEARS, THE INHABITANTS OF LITHUANIA IN 2020 WOULD NUMBER ABOUT 14.9 MILLION. PER SQUARE KILOMETER IN 2020, THERE WOULD BE A LITTLE OVER 228 PEOPLE. SLIGHTLY LESS THAN IN GERMANY, WHERE PER KM2 IN 2022 THERE WERE 236 PEOPLE(13). WITH ITS CAPABILITIES, LITHUANIA WOULD BE ABLE TO EMPLOY EVERYONE, FEED EVERYONE, AND NOT SEEK LABOR OUTSIDE ITS BORDERS. THE SOCIETY WOULD BE YOUNG, WITH A LOW AVERAGE AGE, WHILE AS IT IS, IT IS A SOCIETY WITH A HUGE PERCENTAGE OF POST-PRODUCTION AGE (OVER 20.45%)(14), AND THE AVERAGE AGE IN 2022 WAS 43 YEARS(15). ㅤ MAIN CAUSES OF DEPOPULATION ㅤ WHAT WERE THE MAIN CAUSES OF LITHUANIA'S DEPOPULATION? ABORTION REDUCED THE POPULATION BY ABOUT 2.5 MILLION, OTHER RANDOM EVENTS INCLUDE DEPRAVATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH. HUMAN LIFE DOES NOT PROCEED WITH MATHEMATICAL PRECISION, IT BRINGS VARIOUS PERIPETEIA, FROM THIS NUMBER WE CAN DEDUCT AT LEAST 0.525 MILLION CHILDREN WHO DID NOT SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY, AMONG OTHERS, DUE TO MISCARRIAGE OR OTHER RANDOM EVENTS. MOREOVER, WORLD WAR II REDUCED LITHUANIA'S POPULATION BY 375 THOUSAND PEOPLE, EMIGRATION BY ALMOST 600 THOUSAND PEOPLE, PRIMARILY YOUNG PEOPLE. IN TOTAL, LITHUANIANS AS A RESULT OF THESE HISTORICAL EVENTS LOST 3.46 MILLION, WITH CURRENT INHABITANTS THERE WOULD BE 6.8 MILLION PEOPLE WITHIN THE BORDERS OF THE LITHUANIAN STATE. TO 14.9 MILLION, 8.1 MILLION PEOPLE ARE MISSING. SO THE QUESTION ARISES, WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE? THE CONTRACEPTIVE MEANS INTRODUCED TO SALE IN LITHUANIA CAUSED THE DESTRUCTION OF BEGINNING HUMAN LIFE OR PREVENTED ITS CREATION. SO AS A RESULT OF CONTRACEPTION, LITHUANIANS DECREASED BY ABOUT 8.1 MILLION. CONTRACEPTION IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF LITHUANIA'S DEPOPULATION(16). IT CONTRIBUTED TO THE REDUCTION OF CHILDREN IN FAMILIES TO A LEVEL BELOW GENERATIONAL REPLACEMENT. LITHUANIANS OVER 100 YEARS HAVE DISPOSED OF AT LEAST 10.6 MILLION PEOPLE THROUGH ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTION. ㅤ

Main factors of depopulation and inhabitants of Lithuania in 2020 (in millions)

SUPPORT OUR FIGHT AGAINST LEFT-WING LUNATICS!

ㅤ SUMMARY ㅤ IN 2020, LITHUANIA HAD ABOUT 2.8 MILLION INHABITANTS. HAD VOLTAIREAN IDEAS NOT REACHED LITHUANIA IN THE LAST OVER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY YEARS, HAD THERE BEEN NO WARS AND REVOLUTIONS, LITHUANIA WOULD HAVE ABOUT 14.9 MILLION PEOPLE IN 2020. BUT THAT IS NOT THE CASE. THE MAIN FACTORS OF LITHUANIA'S DEPOPULATION WERE CONTRACEPTION, ABORTION, WORLD WAR II, AND EMIGRATION. THE GREATEST DEVASTATION WAS CAUSED BY CONTRACEPTION, REDUCING THE POPULATION BY 8.1 MILLION PEOPLE, ABORTION BY 2.5 MILLION, EMIGRATION BY ABOUT 600 THOUSAND, AND WORLD WAR II BY 375 THOUSAND. ㅤ REV. K. BIELA WNY ㅤ

Footnotes:

1 See Demographics of Lithuania, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Lithuania, (accessed: 27 .01. 2024 r.) 2 See Historical abortion statistics, Lithuania compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston last updated 29 July 2023, https://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/ab-lithuania.html, (accessed: 03. 02. 2024 r.) 3 Ibidem 4 Ibidem. 5 Calculations based on Demographics of Lithuania, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Lithuania, (accessed: 27 .01. 2024 r.) 6 See P. Dazeley, G. Images, Litwa legalizuje aborcję farmakologiczną, ale lekarze mogą odmówić wydania recepty, https://noizz.pl/spoleczenstwo/litwa-legalizuje-aborcje-farmakologiczna-ale-lekarze-moga-odmowic-wydania-recepty/s35ns1s, (accessed: 09. 04. 2024 r.) 7 See B. S. Mazzetti, "Repackaging the Patriarchy": A Comparative Analysis Between Soviet and Contemporary Russian Reproductive Health Policies and Ideologies, Nev York 2015, p. 38-49. 8 Federation for Women and Family Planning, Accessibility of SRHR in the EU, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/193491/20130131ATT60155EN-original.pdf, (accessed: 09. 04. 2024 r.) 9 Migration in numbers, https://123.emn.lt/en/#emigration (accessed: 09. 04. 2024 r.) 10 Estimated number of victims in the republics of the Soviet Union, https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofiary_II_wojny_%C5%9Bwiatowej (accessed: 09 .04. 2024 r.) 11 Population of Lithuania by ethnic groups 1959–2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Lithuania (accessed: 10 .04. 2024 r.) 12 See K. Bielawny, Dramat depopulacji, "Nasz Dziennik" 2021, nr 188, z 16 VIII. 13 See Niemcy, https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niemcy (accessed: 11 .04. 2024 r.) 14 See Demographics of Lithuania, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Lithuania (accessed: 11 .04. 2024 r.) 15 See Populacja Litwy, https://www.populationof.net/pl/lithuania/ (accessed: 12 .04. 2024 r.) 16 On the action of contraceptive means and abortion, we find quite a lot of information in the British medical weekly "The Lancet", published since 1823. For many years, the journal has become a platform for intensive propaganda of the civilization of death, used by the Guttmacher Institute propagating contraceptive means and abortion as a boon to humanity. Scientists from various parts of the world publish their research, using new-speak, using key concepts: birth regulation, conscious motherhood, family planning, reproductive health, or cultural gender. They support and justify the activities of abortion circles. See J. Bearak, A. Popinchalk, B. Ganatra, A-B. Moller, Ö. Tunçalp, C. Beavin, L. Kwok, L. Alkema, Unintended pregnancy and abortion by income, region, and the legal status of abortion: estimates from a comprehensive model for 1990–2019, The Lancet 2020, t. 8, p. E1152-E1161; See J. Cleland, A. Conde-Agudelo, H. Peterson, J. Ross, A. Tsui, Contraception and health, The Lancer 2012, t. 380, p. 149-156.