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Even Brexit Can’t Dim Exodus From EU’s Fastest-Shrinking Nation

Lithuanians are still flocking to the U.K.

A Lithuanian national flag flies outside the Nasdaq OMX Vilnius Stock Exchange in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Lithuania will switch currencies to the euro on Jan. 1, 2015.Photographer: Peter Kollanyi

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By Aaron Eglitis

July 21, 2017 at 3:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

If Brexit has diminished Lithuanians’ attraction to the U.K. -- the No. 1 European destination for the Baltic nation’s migrants -- they’re hiding it well.

Outflows of the country’s workers to Britain accelerated in 2016, even after the summer decision to quit the European Union cast a cloud over their future rights, data released this month showed. Lithuania, whose population has plunged 16 percent to 2.85 million since it joined the EU in 2004, remained the bloc’s most rapidly shrinking state last year.