Vilnius ranked first in the 2026 Baltic states population list, with 617,984 residents.
Vilnius is Lithuania’s capital and its largest city. In the comparison list, populations are measured within national city limits rather than across metropolitan areas, which makes the figures more directly comparable but narrower than urban-region totals. The listed figure is an estimate for January 2026.
The city’s historic centre is famous for its exceptionally well-preserved Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. Vilnius developed as a major political and cultural centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its architectural heritage includes a distinctive local Baroque tradition.
Readers often confuse city-proper rankings with metropolitan rankings. Vilnius’s estimated urban area was larger—about 767,907 people—because it extends beyond the municipal boundary. In the same Baltic comparison, Riga ranked second with 591,882 residents, followed by Tallinn with 456,518 and Kaunas with 302,874. Those dates differ slightly because the three national statistical agencies publish their estimates on different schedules.