Lithuania.
A flat 15% for long holds and the account — quick sales now climb.
Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Lithuania runs about 17% cheaper than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,070 a month here — roughly €24,840 a year, and a ×30 number near €745,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Continental Baltic — cold winters, warm short summers.
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Lithuania, buy prices are up 158% since 2015 (+9.8% last year); rents up 83% since 2015.
Deloitte's Property Index doesn't price this country, so there's no per-m² tag here — the comparative level and the trend above are the official read.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
A 2026 reform split the path. Shares held over five years, or gains taken inside the investment account, stay at a flat 15%. Sell sooner and outside the account and the gain joins your other income on a new progressive scale — 15% on the first ~€27,700, then 20%, 25%, up to 32%. (The over-five-years flat rate is clear for company shares; whether pooled ETF units qualify is the open question — confirm it.)
The first €500 of financial-instrument gains each year is exempt outright. And the investment account is the clean route: hold shares, funds and ETFs inside it and tax is deferred until your withdrawals pass what you paid in — then a flat 15%. Dividends are a flat 15% too, but taxed as they land; the account doesn't defer those.
No advance tax on an accumulating fund — it's taxed only when you sell.
No wealth tax, and no exit tax on individuals leaving.
On paper 5–10%, but spouses, children, parents, grandchildren and siblings are all exempt — and there's no gift tax.
The reform is brand new — in force since January 2026 — and its euro thresholds are still preliminary, so date-check the bands. The thing to confirm for an index investor is whether a long-held ETF earns the five-year flat rate, or only the account does.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
No passive route and no nomad visa — the doors are genuinely running a Lithuanian company, a job, or study.
no property or fund route at any price; the only 'investment' door is actively operating a real local company.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · no dual, generally · Lithuanian at A2 + a constitution exam
in the tax year, or 280 across two; a permanent home or your interests here also count
Lithuania is the strictest of the Baltics for a FIRE mover: no savings route, no nomad visa despite what relocation sites advertise, and a company route that demands real operations, not parked capital. Citizenship takes ten years and your old passport — the 2024 referendum on dual citizenship won the vote but failed the constitutional turnout bar. The health catch bites too: a non-working temporary resident cannot buy into the state system at all until permanent residence.
Dual-citizenship politics stay live after the failed May 2024 referendum; the state-insurance self-payer bill re-prices every January (€80/month in 2026, at permanent residence).
Check it yourself: Migration Department — naturalisation · PwC — Lithuania tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
Compulsory state insurance covers permanent residents and working temporary residents — a non-working temporary resident cannot pay in at all, and lives on private cover until permanent residence; with it, the self-payer rate is about €80 a month (2026).
Private cover: permits want private cover (a €6,000 minimum per the EU portal).
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- How are capital gains taxed in Lithuania after the 2026 reform?
- A 2026 reform split the path: shares held over five years, or gains taken inside the investment account, stay at a flat 15%. Sell sooner and outside the account and the gain joins your other income on a progressive scale — 15% on the first ~€27,700, then 20%, 25%, up to 32%. The reform is brand new and its euro thresholds are still preliminary, so date-check the bands.
- Is there a tax-free allowance for investment gains in Lithuania?
- Yes — the first €500 of financial-instrument gains each year is exempt outright.
- Does Lithuania have an investment account that defers tax?
- Yes — hold shares, funds and ETFs inside the investment account and tax is deferred until your withdrawals pass what you paid in, then a flat 15%. Dividends are a flat 15% too, but taxed as they land; the account doesn't defer those.
- Does a long-held ETF qualify for Lithuania's five-year flat 15% rate?
- The over-five-years flat rate is clear for company shares, but whether pooled ETF units qualify is the open question — confirm it before you rely on it.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Lithuania?
- No passive route and no nomad visa — the doors are genuinely running a Lithuanian company, a job, or study. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Confirm with the immigration authority — routes open and close.
- How long until a Lithuania passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with Lithuanian at A2 + a constitution exam. Dual citizenship is generally not allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 9 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.