The survey, conducted between October and November, asked people aged 18 and over to rate how they think the economic situation in Lithuania has changed over the last two months - whether it has improved, stayed the same or worsened.
According to the survey, the number of people who perceived the economic situation in Lithuania to have worsened has decreased over the last three years. In November this year, 40% of the population felt this way, down by 14% in a year (54% in November 2023) and by almost a third in two years (72% in November 2022).
At the same time, the number of people who think that the economic situation in Lithuania has not changed in the last months of the year has increased: 43% this November, 33% last year and 22% in 2022.
In the last months of this year, just over a tenth of Lithuanians think that the country's economic situation has improved, with 12% of respondents expressing this opinion. This figure has risen from 8% last year to 3% in 2022.
Another 5% of respondents in November this year and last year said they had no opinion on changes in the economic situation in Lithuania, compared to 3% two years ago.
At the end of 2024, males were slightly more dissatisfied with the situation in the national economy (42%), while 37% of females expressed this view.
Almost half of all people living in rural areas (47%) and pensioners (46%), as well as more than half of respondents with incomplete secondary education (54%), believe that the economic situation is deteriorating.
48% of unemployed women and homemakers, 44% of Russians and 60% of Poles, as well as 45% of leftists, are pessimistic about the economic situation.
Young people under 30, respondents with higher education and those earning the highest family income of over EUR 2 000 per month, as well as managers, professionals and civil servants, young people in education and those working in the public sector are relatively more likely to think that the economic situation in Lithuania is improving.
The economic situation was best before the pandemic and worst after the outbreak of war in Ukraine
According to the survey, the best assessment of Lithuania's economic situation was made five years ago, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2019, three out of ten people (29%) thought the situation had worsened in the last months of the year, more than half (52%) considered it unchanged, and 13% thought it had improved.
The worst situation was two years ago, when inflation in Lithuania was among the highest in the European Union (EU) in November, following Russia's launch of a large-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022. At that time, as many as seven out of ten (72%) thought the economic situation had worsened in the last 2 months, while only 3% said it had improved. In November 2022, more than a fifth of people thought the economic situation had not changed.
At that time, this year's figures were similar to those of ten years ago. In November 2014, one-sixth (16%) of people said the economic situation in Lithuania had improved in the last few months, four in ten (42%) thought it had stayed the same, and a similar number (39%) said it had gotten worse.
The survey took place between 30 October and 12 November 2024. It covered 1019 Lithuanian citizens (aged 18 and over) by personal interview and was carried out at 111 sampling points. The composition of the respondents corresponds to the composition of the Lithuanian population aged 18 years and over in terms of gender, age, nationality, and type of settlement. The people surveyed reflect the opinion of the Lithuanian population aged 18 and over.
The margin of error of the survey results is up to 3.1%.
