The improving quality of life in Kaunas is attracting more and more new residents

As the trends of recent years show, Kaunas and its environs have become a strong center of attraction in terms of internal migration. Assessing the indicator of internal migration, in other words, the ratio between the Lithuanian population who decided to settle in Kaunas city or district and those who moved to other regions of the country shows a preponderance of the ones who settled in Kaunas. In 2016, 1,266 people migrated to Kaunas city and district, the next year the number grew to 1,444 and in 2018 there were as many as 1,743. However, 2019 has become a year of record growth for the Kaunas region. The migration rate is not only positive, but the highest in more than a decade and reaches up to 2,697 new residents.

“The overall balance of arrivals and departures to Kaunas city and district has become positive since 2006 and since then we have observed a long-term encouraging trend of migration to Kaunas from other Lithuanian cities and towns. It is a clear confirmation that Kaunas is one of the most attractive places to live in Lithuania, both in terms of assessing the quality of life and the opportunities for economic activity in the region,” Andrius Veršinskas, the head of the business department of Kaunas IN, says.

He notes that the real numbers of people coming to live in Kaunas are even higher, because the data provided by the Department of Statistics do not include those who live in Kaunas, but have not declared their place of residence here. This group of residents includes not only students but also young people who stay in Kaunas after their studies.

Currents that control the course of internal migration

What are the most common reasons for internal migration? As shown by the survey of the Lithuanian population conducted by the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania in 2018, the main reasons for changing residence are the search for a better, more comfortable life, job that can ensure greater well-being, marriage, education, acquisition of new home or inheritance.

Describing the changes in the structure of the settlements themselves, specialists point out that they are determined by many external factors – economic, political, territorial – which, in turn, are transformed by global processes. For example, in 1996, the structure of residential areas was shaped by factors such as natural, recreational, and tourism resources, local financial resources, the quality and quantity of the workforce. And in 2018, a decisive role was already played by other factors: the quality of the internet connection and the environment, as well as the variety and accessibility of services and services of general economic interest. It is the latter factors that have led to the fact that urbanization processes are currently taking place in areas that include leading cities and their suburbs.

Factors of well-being in Kaunas

In Lithuania, one of the most striking examples of such an area is Kaunas. The attractiveness of the city is enhanced by the changing lifestyle of the population, the public infrastructure and the quality of the environment that meet their opportunities and needs, and finally, the number of investments and the amount of residents’ income allocated to the city.

“Looking at the positive indicator of internal migration to Kaunas, it is worth assessing the increased supply of newly built housing in the territory of the city, which provided an opportunity for the new residents to settle here,” A. Veršinskas notes.

2018 and 2019 were record-breaking years for Kaunas city in terms of the volume of new residential construction projects. In 2019 alone, more than 800 apartments were built and sales of new apartments in the primary market grew by as much as 35% compared to the previous year. According to Ober-House’s real estate market expert review, this was influenced by both the country’s rapidly growing economy and favorable conditions for real estate acquisition, as well as the 2018-2019 largest supply of new homes over the past decade.

Kaunas IN business department information and illustration.