Live Laugh Love Lithuania

It’s official: young people in Lithuania are the happiest in the world. But how did a post-Soviet state where the shadow of war looms large learn to party like it’s 2025? And as the country celebrates 35 years of independence, how do the stats stack up with lived reality?

EMMA FRIEDLANDER

Meet the Bakutytė sisters: Aistė (27), Algė (25) and Adelė (19). “We’re like the Kardashians,” says Aistė of their alliterative names, for which we have to thank parents Asta and Algis. Like any Lithuanian siblings, they bond via TikTok and on mushroom foraging trips, a national pastime that emphasises closeness to nature. Aistė and Algė have sorely missed that access to the outdoors since moving to London, part of a major wave of migration out of Lithuania since the country joined the EU in 2004. Aistė and Algė also share a new year’s resolution for 2025: to leave the UK for good and return home to Lithuania. “Honestly, life here sucks,” says Aistė of London, Algė nodding in agreement. The sisters are visiting their parents’ home in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest…

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Dazed & Confused (Digital) - 1 Issue, Spring 2025

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