Causes and structure of emigration of Lithuania citizens in the period between 2003 and 2013

Lithuania for several years has maintained the highest rate of emigration in the EU. The aim of this article is to determine the causes of such a condition and to analyze emigration from Lithuania in the studied period − its level, structure and target countries. The decline in population due to demographic changes and migration, as well as political and economic transformations, allow to draw the conclusion that the emigration transition in Lithuania took place in the studied period. The main reason for emigration are large differences in wages in Lithuania and the EU countries, which have opened their labour markets to the citizens of Lithuania. The concept of emigration transition, explaining the increase in emigration during the political and economic transformation, allows to predict the directions of migration and its causes. The problem of emigration from Lithuania refers to young working-age people and is primarily of profit-making nature