Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Unification of Klaipėda Region and Lithuania: Cross-Regional Economic Productivity Disparities in 1923-1925 and after the Restoration of Independence

Jurgita Markevičiūtė
Institute of Applied Mathematics at Vilnius University

Zenonas Norkus
Institute of Sociology and Social Work at Vilnius University

Increasing cross-regional economic (measured by regional gross domestic product per capita; rGDPpc) and social inequality is one of the most topical problems of contemporary Lithuania. It most important manifestation is the gap between capital (Vilnius) and rest Lithuania. Since 2018 this gap did receive also institutional expression, as Lithuania was partitioned into the Capital Region (NUTS LT01), coinciding with Vilnius county, and the Central and Western Lithuania region ((NUTS LT02), encompassing remaining nine counties of Lithuania. In 2021, the rGDPpc in Vilnius county was 148,8% of Lithuania’s mean value. Next richest Lithuanian counties (Kaunas 102,1% and Klaipėda 91,9%) were far behind. With 54,6% of Lithuania’s mean Tauragė was the poorest Lithuanian county. What were cross-regional economic productivity disparities in 1923, when Klaipėda region was annexed to Lithuania? Recent findings of Vilnius University researchers implementing the project BALTIC100 (together with scholars from Latvia, Estonia and Norway) allow to answer this question. In 1923, most productive was Klaipėda area with rGDPpc making out 148% of Lithuanian mean. Šiauliai county did take second place (132%), while Kaunas county was third (109%). Utena county (77%) was the poorest. This does not mean that during last hundred years Vilnius did occupy the position of Klaipėda, because in 1923 Vilnius was not part of the Republic of Lithuania, and there are no data to estimate rGDP of Vilnius region under Polish occupation. In the Central and Western Lithuania region ((NUTS LT02), spatially approximately congruent with interwar Lithuania, Klaipėda county remains most economically productive, preserving the edge over Kaunas county.

This presentation is based on the research that has received funding from the [EEA]/ [Norway] Grants 2014-2021 for the Baltic Research Programme’s project „Quantitative Data about Societal and Economic Transformations in the Regions of the Three Baltic States during the Last Hundred Years for the Analysis of Historical Transformations and the Overcoming of Future Challenges (BALTIC100)”.